Evolution of a tropical high-altitude insect community in the Andes inferred from a global phylogenetic framework

热带高压安第斯山脉以极其多样化的生态系统为特色，拥有世界上一些最快的植物辐射。这种丰富的物种和形式长期以来一直吸引着博物学家。然而，安第斯高地生物群的进化起源仍然鲜有研究。在过去十年中，分子系统发育和生物地理分析为在全面背景下研究安第斯分类群的进化提供了技术和概念框架。然而，到目前为止，几乎没有人关注无脊椎动物，蝴蝶是一个主要的例外。在这里，我们建议从安第斯高地的湿地采集水生鞘翅目昆虫(这里：潜水甲虫，跳甲科)的样本，这些湿地是南美洲屋顶帕拉莫和普纳高原的组成部分。因此，这个项目是一个多国合作。首先，我们使用DNA条形码和形态工作流来描述大多数未被描述的安第斯物种，并揭示它们的大规模系统地理模式，以及可能对以后物种形成的种群基因组研究有用的分支。其次，我们选择所有物种的个体，以及来自其他地方的同种和相关分类群，并使用浅层全基因组测序方法来生成用于系统发育和生物地理分析的数据。基于我们广泛的现有Dytiscidae数据库(已知的4000个物种中有Sanger测序数据的50%，约350个物种的现有系统发育数据)，我们将处于独特的位置，重建嵌入全球系统发育的这部分安第斯生物群的进化历史、群落组装和形态适应。

The tropical high Andes feature extremely diverse ecosystems, with some of the world’s fastest plant radiations. This wealth of species and forms has attracted naturalists for a long time. Yet, the evolutionary origin of the high Andean biota remains little studied. Over the past decade, molecular phylogenetics and biogeographical analyses provided the technological and conceptual framework to study the evolution of Andean taxa in a comprehensive context. Little attention has, however, been directed at invertebrates to date, a major exception being butterflies. Here, we suggest to sample aquatic Coleoptera (here: diving beetles, Dytiscidae) from high Andean wetlands, which are integrative part of the Paramo and Puna plateaus – the roof of South America. This project is therefore a multinational cooperation. First, we use a DNA barcoding and morphology workflow to characterize the mostly undescribed Andean species, and reveal their large scale phylogeographic patterns, as well as clades potentially useful for later population genomic investigation of speciation. Second, we select individuals of all species, as well as congeners and related taxa from elsewhere, and use a shallow whole genome sequencing approach to generate data for phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses. Based on our extensive existing Dytiscidae database (>50% of the 4,000 known species with exisiting Sanger sequencing data, ca. 350 species with existing phylogenomic data), we will be in the unique position to reconstruct the evolutionary history, community assembly and morphological adaptation of this part of the Andean biota embedded in a global phylogeny.