Illuminating the Lanternfly Tree: Phylogeny of the Planthopper Families Fulgoridae and Dictyopharidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea) and their Bacterial Endosymbionts

灯蝇(半翅目，叶蝉科)和它们的姊妹稻飞虱群(Dictyphidae科)构成了一个极其多样化和极具魅力的昆虫群体，一些标志性物种(如花生头虫)普遍被用来例证奇怪的昆虫进化和热带昆虫的生物多样性。这些昆虫家族总共包括分布在世界各地的1000多种已描述的物种(热带地区的多样性最高)。这些昆虫完全是以汁液为食的食草动物，会对它们的寄主植物造成损害。此外，昆虫的肠道中含有多种细菌，这些细菌为昆虫提供必需的营养，而昆虫的植物汁液饮食中没有这些营养。尽管这些昆虫有许多有趣的方面，但它们的进化史实际上是未知的。该项目的目标是重建这一群体内的进化关系，并探索昆虫与其细菌内共生体之间的共同进化趋势。分析将基于整合现代DNA测序技术和传统比较形态学的数据。这项研究的成果将不仅包括昆虫及其内共生细菌的系统发育树，还将包括新的互联网可访问的工具，以帮助对所包括的物种进行分类鉴定。这项研究将为整合其他对个别稻飞虱物种的生物学和生态学进行的科学研究提供一个进化框架。即将开发的鉴定工具将对研究这些昆虫的科学家具有相当大的价值。此外，通过这项研究进行的尖端进化分析将为其他动植物群体的类似研究提供模式。该项目将为几名学生提供几乎所有学术水平的培训，增加下一代系统昆虫学专家。

Lanternflies (order Hemiptera, family Fulgoridae) and their sister-group of planthoppers (family Dictyopharidae) constitute a strikingly diverse and exceedingly charismatic insect group, with some iconic species (such as the 'peanut-headed bug') ubiquitously used to exemplify bizarre insect evolution and tropical insect biodiversity. Together, these insect families include more than 1,000 described species that are distributed around the world (with the highest diversity occurring in the tropics). These insects are exclusively sap-feeding herbivores, and can cause damage to their host-plants. Additionally, the insects harbor, within their guts, multiple species of bacteria that provide essential nutrients to the insects that are not available in the insects' plant-sap diet. Despite the many interesting aspects of these insects, their evolutionary history is virtually unknown. The goal of this project is to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships within this group and to explore co-evolutionary trends between the insects and their bacterial endosymbionts. Analyses will be based on data integrating modern DNA sequencing technology and traditional comparative morphology. Products of this research will include not only the phylogenetic trees of the insects and their endosymbiotic bacteria, but also new internet-accessible tools to aid in the taxonomic identification of included species.This research will provide an evolutionary framework for integrating other scientific studies conducted on the biology and ecology of individual planthopper species. The identification tools to be developed will be of considerable value to scientists studying these insects. Additionally, the cutting-edge evolutionary analyses carried out through this research will serve as a model for similar studies on other plant and animal groups. This project will provide training for several students at virtually all academic levels, adding to the next generation of experts in systematic entomology.