ARTS: Broadening capacity for research on gall wasps in North America

五倍子蜂(膜翅目：食蜂科)是一类多种多样的昆虫，其中许多昆虫会在植物上形成新的结构，称为八倍子。这些精心设计和不寻常的生长为发育中的黄蜂幼虫提供了庇护所和食物。鲤科黄蜂在许多类型的植物上诱导虫害，最近的研究表明，它们在了解昆虫进化、共同进化、群落生态学和植物生理学方面具有实用价值。然而，对五倍子的系统学研究，特别是命名、分类和估计进化史(系统发育)的过程，有助于将这些物种带入更广泛的科学领域，一直落后于其他昆虫群体。对于那些原产于北美的五倍子黄蜂物种来说，这种困境尤其真实。该项目将在一定程度上产生促进对这些黄蜂的研究的资源，主要是专著(所有已知物种的汇编以及描述和分布数据)、系统发育(重建进化史)和至少两个部落的诊断工具：Aulacideini和Distrophini。这些黄蜂很常见，它们会在许多可识别的植物上产生虫害，包括野生生菜、松子草、荆棘和金雀花。这两个部落是所有五倍子中研究最少的部落之一，而且只有一小部分关于这两个部落的研究发表过。属于这些类群的物种也显示出作为进化或物种形成模式的潜力，但它们的相关性被不完整的分类学知识混淆了。该项目还将制作可用于对研究生和本科生以及更广泛的公众进行系统学和胆汁生物学教育的材料。研究小组将使用一个综合的分类框架来修订北美胆小蜂部落的动物群，该框架包括形态、生物和生态数据、DNA条形码数据以及与胆汁相关的特征，这些数据作为胆汁诱导剂的扩展表型。物种水平以上的可靠分类将以超保护元素分析(UCES)为基础。这些数据将有助于测试无数物种的概念，特别是关于UCE数据集，并应产生可靠的、时间校准的系统发育。这些修订将使这些昆虫能够适用于其他研究领域，并提供信息。例如，将探索悬钩子植物上的星虫物种和硅藻植物上的反天牛物种作为了解昆虫如何操纵植物的模式系统的潜力。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) are a diverse group of insects, many of which cause the formation of novel structures on plants, called galls. These elaborate and unusual growths provide shelter and food for developing wasp larvae. Cynipid wasps induce galls on many types of plants, and recent research has demonstrated their utility in understanding insect evolution, coevolution, community ecology, and plant physiology. However, systematics research on gall wasps, especially the process of naming, classifying, and estimating evolutionary history (phylogenetics), processes that help bring these species into the broader scientific realm, has lagged behind that of other insect groups. This predicament is especially true of those gall wasp species native to North America. This project will, in part, yield resources that facilitate research on these wasps, mainly monographs (compilations of all known species with descriptions and distribution data), phylogenies (reconstructions of evolutionary history), and diagnostic tools, for at least two tribes: Aulacideini and Diastrophini. These wasps are common, and they induce galls on many recognizable plants, including wild lettuces, rosinweeds, brambles, and cinquefoils. These two tribes are among the least studied of all gall wasps, and only a small handful of studies have ever been published on these groups. Species belonging to these groups also show potential for use as models for evolution or speciation, but their relevance is obfuscated by incomplete taxonomic knowledge. The project will also produce materials that can be used in educating graduate and undergraduate students and the public more broadly about systematics and gall biology.The research team will revise the North American fauna of the gall wasp tribes Aulacideini and Diastrophini using an integrated taxonomic framework comprising morphology, biological and ecological data, DNA barcoding data, and characters related to galls, which act as extended phenotypes of the gall inducer. Robust classification above the species level will be underpinned by analyses of ultraconserved elements (UCEs). These data will lend themselves to testing myriad species concepts, especially with regard to the UCE dataset, and should yield robust, time-calibrated phylogenies. The revisions will enable and inform the applicability of these insects to other research domains. For example, Diastrophus species on Rubus plants and Antistrophus species on Silphium plants will be explored for their potential as a model systems to understand how insects are able to manipulate plants.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.