Systematics, taxonomy and speciation of insects

蝴蝶和飞蛾构成了食草动物的一大群，它们构成了我们星球上生命的多样性。它们之所以重要，不仅是因为它们与我们争夺食物和纤维，还因为它们的美丽抓住了我们的想象力。云杉芽蛾的毛虫是北美针叶林的主要掠叶者，它们的定期爆发影响了森林结构，并造成了巨大的经济损失，尽管几十年来人们努力控制它们的数量。东半球燕尾蝶类的蝴蝶也受到了很多关注，尽管主要是因为它们体型庞大，在视觉上对博物学家很有吸引力。尽管经过多年的研究，我们仍然不知道鳞翅目的种类有多少，也不知道如何区分它们。这可能是因为这些物种在某些地区正在分化，但在其他地区正在融合。我们想知道为什么会发生这种情况，因为这将使我们了解物种形成是如何发生的。换句话说，一个物种如何以及为什么会变成两个物种？新物种有时会通过不同物种之间的杂交而形成吗？

Butterflies and moths form one of the great groups of herbivores that comprise the diversity of life on our planet. They are important not only because they compete with us for food and fiber, but also because their beauty captures our imagination. Caterpillars of spruce budworm moths are major defoliators of conifer forests in North America, influencing forest structure by their regular outbreaks and causing substantial economic damage despite many decades of effort to manage their population numbers. Butterflies of the Old World Swallowtail species group have received much attention as well, although mainly because they are large and visually attractive to naturalists. Both groups of Lepidoptera share the fact that we still don't know how many species they contain and how to tell them apart, in spite of years of study. This may be because these species are in the process of diverging in some areas but merging in others. We would like to know why this might be happening, since this would give us insight into how speciation occurs. In other words, how and why can one species turn into two species? And can new species sometimes form by hybridization between previously distinct species? We will investigate the origin and evolution of species of spruce budworm moths and their relatives to understand how they have interacted with their environment over time to diversify across the Northern Hemisphere and into the Old World. The classification and delimitation of these moths is important in allowing us to efficiently focus our management of the forests that they affect. We will also study the extent to which local landscape structure influences mating and gene flow between the species of swallowtail butterflies across North America. We are well positioned to take advantage of rapidly advancing technologies that allow us to more efficiently survey genetic variation within and between populations. We are at the brink of being able to determine what kinds of genes, and how many, are essential for divergences or merging of populations. Our previous work has shown that the genes associated with species differences are mostly found on sex chromosomes that, in the case of butterflies and moths, make up only about 3% of their total genome. If this is true, then looking first at the genes on these chromosomes will allow us to more effectively diagnose and understand the diversity of moths, butterflies, and life around us.