A Revision of the Lineage Tetrasphaeropyx (Cresson) of Genus Aleiodes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Rogadinae)

有些人可能会在想到痛苦的黄蜂蜇伤时感到恐慌，而没有意识到这些昆虫中有许多不会蜇人，实际上对环境有帮助。 寄生蜂是一种无刺昆虫，每年通过消除农业和森林害虫的环境，为美国和其他政府节省数亿美元。雌蜂把卵产在寄主昆虫或蜘蛛的身上或体内。孵化后，马蜂蛆以寄主为食，最终杀死寄主。不幸的是，科学界缺乏关于这些黄蜂的生物学信息。 目前只知道一种Tetraspaeropyx Cresson（膜翅目：茧蜂科）。这项研究的目的是发现和传播所有Tetraspaeropyx物种的生物学数据。 这项研究的主要研究者（PI）从12个主要的北美博物馆获得了942个Tetrasphaeropyx标本，估计至少有60个新物种尚未被描述。 所有检查的标本记录主机协会专门寄生尺蠖毛虫，在北美的森林树木和农业植物的饲料。 完成本研究的方法如下。 在大约2年的时间里，所有的标本将被分类。正在使用Leica 12.5 MZ立体显微镜、Syncroscopy数字化成像系统和IBM Intelligation M Pro计算机以及Adobe Photoshop软件构建数字图像库。在此期间，一个系统发育假说，或假说的自然历史的组将发展。 在这一过程中，将完善该组的物种概念;因此，系统发育分析将产生用于定义物种的关键信息。 将建立一个用于识别物种的诊断形态特征图像库，用于系统发育分析和建立所有物种的识别码。 识别键将附有诊断特征状态的数字化图示，并且本身将作为数字化在线键提供。将提交一本生物学专著，其中包括宿主协会信息和物种地理范围、分类学和该组的生殖发生学，供在一本主要科学杂志上发表。 这项研究将为昆虫学家、林业学家、农学家、保护生物学家和其他人提供有关寄生蜂群Tetrasphaeropyx的重要信息。 它将提供一个机会，培养研究生和本科生在昆虫分类学和进化，以及在用于描述和分类生物体的技术。 因此，该项目将开始培训未来的科学家，他们将为环境保护做出贡献。由于寄生蜂的物种多样性巨大，而且每个这样的群体，在某些情况下每个物种，攻击不同种类的宿主，这些昆虫在控制潜在的害虫种群密度方面至关重要。随着Tetraspaeropyx群体的逐渐知名，生物学家将拥有一个更准确地评估生物多样性和栖息地质量的宝贵工具。 它可以提供一种替代农药的管理潜在的经济有害的尺蠖爆发。

Some people may panic at the thought of a painful wasp sting without realizing that many of these insects don't sting and are actually helpful to the environment. Parasitic wasps are such non-stinging insects that save the U.S. and other governments hundreds of millions of dollars each year by ridding the environment of agricultural and forest pest insects. The female wasp lays her eggs on or in the bodies of insect or spider hosts. After hatching, wasp maggots feed on the host, eventually killing it. Unfortunately, biological information about these wasps is lacking in the scientific community. Only one species of Tetrasphaeropyx Cresson (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is known. The goal of this research is to discover and disseminate biological data about all Tetrasphaeropyx species. The Principal Investigator (PI) of this study has acquired 942 Tetrasphaeropyx specimens from 12 major North American museums and estimates that there may be a minimum of 60 new species yet to be described. All examined specimens with recorded host associations exclusively parasitize inchworm caterpillars which feed on forest trees and agricultural plants in North America. Methods for accomplishing this study are as follows. Over about 2 years, all specimens will be sorted into species. A digital image library is being built using a Leica 12.5 MZ stereomicroscope, a Syncroscopy digitalized imaging system, and an IBM Intellistation M Pro computer, with Adobe Photoshop software. During this period a phylogenetic hypothesis, or hypothesis of the natural history of the group will be developed. The species concept for the group will be refined in the process; thus, the phylogenetic analysis will yield crucial information used to define species. An image library of diagnostic morphological characters for identifying species will be built for phylogenetic analysis and for building an identification key for all species. The identification key will be accompanied with digitalized illustrations of diagnostic character states, and will itself be made accessible as a digitalized online key. A monograph of the biology, including host association information and species geographical ranges, taxonomy, and phylogeny of the group will be submitted for publication in a major scientific journal. This investigation will provide important information about the parasitic wasp group Tetrasphaeropyx to entomologists, foresters, agriculturalists, conservation biologists, and others. It will offer an opportunity for training a graduate student and undergraduate students in insect taxonomy and evolution, as well as in technologies used for describing and classifying organisms. Thus, this project will begin training future scientists who will contribute to environmental conservation. Because of the tremendous species diversity of parasitic wasps, and the fact that each such group, in some cases each species, attacks a different kind of host, these insects are crucial in controlling potential insect pest population densities. As the group Tetrasphaeropyx becomes known, biologists will have a valuable tool for more accurately assessing biological diversity and habitat quality. It may provide an alternative to pesticides for managing potentially economically harmful outbreaks of inchworms.