DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Phylogeny of the Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea)

俄勒冈州州立大学的安德鲁·布劳尔博士和安德鲁·沃伦先生获得了一笔赠款，用于调查世界上的凤蝶亚科和部落之间的进化关系。 作为他的博士论文研究，沃伦将结合联合收割机DNA序列从几个不同的基因与形态特征的数据，从检查固定的成年标本，以阐明模式的关系，这一大和了解甚少的一组蝴蝶。 研究的DNA部分将从100多个属中广泛取样，而形态部分将检查一组约50个代表全球动物群变异范围的样本。作为最具魅力的无脊椎动物群体，蝴蝶在广泛的进化和生态学研究中充当模式生物，并享有广泛的业余爱好者谁欣赏他们的各种方式从收集到摄影观看选区。 由于蝴蝶数百年来一直是这种关注的主题，因此它们可能是任何不同动物分类群中最全面的地理和时间分布模式记录，这使它们成为环境变化的绝佳指标。 然而，令人惊讶的是，我们对它们的进化关系的了解非常有限。 这项研究是目前正在进行的一项努力的一个关键组成部分，为所有的蝴蝶开发一个全面的系统发育假说-也就是说，有一个完整的“生命树”的蝴蝶，将提供一个预测的基础，为未来的研究翅膀图案的演变，模仿，aposematism，宿主植物共同进化，以及其他经常感兴趣的生态学和进化领域的主题。

A grant has been awarded to Dr. Andrew Brower and Mr. Andrew Warren at Oregon State University to investigate the evolutionary relationships among the subfamilies and tribes of the skipper butterflies of the world (family Hesperiidae). As his dissertation research, Warren will combine DNA sequences from several different genes with morphological character data from examination of pinned adult specimens, to elucidate the pattern of relationships of this large and poorly-understood group of butterflies. The DNA part of the study will sample broadly among more than 100 genera, while the morphological component will examine a reduced set of about 50 exemplars representing the range of variation from the global fauna.As the most charismatic group of invertebrates, butterflies have served as model organisms in a broad range of evolutionary and ecological studies, and enjoy a broad constituency of amateur enthusiasts who appreciate them in various ways from collecting to photography to watching. Because they have been the subject of this attention for hundreds of years, butterflies have perhaps the most comprehensive geographical and temporal records of distribution patterns of any diverse animal taxon, which makes them excellent indicators of environmental change. Surprisingly, however, our knowledge of their evolutionary relationships is quite limited. This research represents a key component of an effort that is currently underway to develop a comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis for all butterflies - that is, to have a complete "tree of life" for butterflies that will provide a predictive basis for future studies of the evolution of wing patterns, mimicry, aposematism, host plant coevolution, and other topics of recurrent interest in the fields of ecology and evolution.