DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Building a Robust Classification for March Flies (Diptera: Bibionomorpha: Bibionidae)

Darlene Judd博士和Scott Fitzgerald先生被授予研究蝇科Bibionidae(双翅目：Bibionomforma)，俗称三月蝇或爱虫之间的关系。这项研究的目标包括定义家庭级别的边界，识别密切相关的家庭，并比较这一广泛集合的特征，以建立反映自然群体的分类。将包括来自所有生物地理区域的样本物种，并将使用分支学方法分析幼虫、蛹和成虫生活期的形态特征。未成熟阶段(幼虫和幼虫)出现在土壤和叶凋落物中，在自然历史收藏中很少被代表。菲茨杰拉德的实地工作将集中在获取从美国西部和墨西哥记录的60多个物种的未成熟阶段，他将前往夏威夷的B.P.毕晓普博物馆研究世界上最全面的生物体研究收藏。双翅目，或“真蝇”，可以说是最鲜为人知的较大的昆虫目，具有相当大的医学、农业和生物学重要性。苍蝇约占重要医学昆虫的80%，是引起疟疾、黄热病和西尼罗河等疾病的病原体的媒介。一段时间以来，研究人员一致认为，对苍蝇提出的传统分类没有反映自然群体，因此没有提供一个预测框架来存储信息和了解它们的进化、形态和行为(例如吸血)。生物体的系统发育位置尚不清楚。然而，它们是理解原始种群(例如蚊子)和高级种群(例如家蝇和果蝇)之间过渡的关键。此外，一些幼虫是重要的蔬菜和粮食作物害虫，更好地了解它们的特征、生活史、习性和关系可能会为它们的防治提供有用的见解。

A grant has been awarded to Dr. Darlene Judd and Mr. Scott Fitzgerald to study relationships within the fly family Bibionidae (Diptera: Bibionomorpha), commonly known as March flies or Love Bugs. The goals of this study include defining the familial-level boundaries, identifying families that are closely related, and comparing features across this broad assemblage to erect a classification that reflects natural groups. Exemplar species from all biogeographic regions will be included and morphological characters from larval, pupal, and adult life stages will be analyzed using cladistic methods. The immature stages (larva and pupa) occur in soil and leaf litter and are poorly represented in natural history collections. Fitzgerald's field work will concentrate on obtaining the immature stages of the 60+ species recorded from the western United States and Mexico and he will travel to the B.P. Bishop Museum, Hawaii to study the world's most comprehensive bibionid research collection. Diptera, or "true flies," is arguably the most poorly known of the larger orders of insects and is of considerable medical, agricultural, and biological importance. Flies account for approximately 80% of medically important insects and are the vectors of pathogens that cause diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, and west nile. For some time, investigators have agreed that the traditional classification proposed for flies does not reflect natural groups and thus does not provide a predictive framework for storing information and understanding their evolution, morphology, and behavior (e.g. blood feeding). The phylogenetic position of bibionids is unclear. However, they are key to understanding the transition between primitive groups (e.g. mosquitoes) and the advanced groups (e.g. house flies and Drosophila). In addition, some of the larvae are important vegetable and cereal crop pests and a better understanding of their characteristics, life history habits and relationships may provide useful insights into their control.