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Polyneoptera is a name sometimes applied to an assemblage of 11 insect orders comprising the lower neopterous or “orthopteroid” insects. These orders include familiar insects such as grasshoppers, roaches, termites, earwigs and preying mantises; as well as the more obscure web-spinners, angel insects and ice-crawlers. Many of these insect orders exhibit a high degree of morphological specialization, a condition which has lead to multiple phylogenetic hypotheses and little consensus among investigators. Phylogenetic relationships among these insects are poorly known, and we are using molecular and morphological data to provide greater resolution to this portion of the insect tree, and to provide a robust placement for the newly described Mantophasmatodea.
The mitochondria (mt) is the primary energy producing organelle of animals. Mt are descended from bacteria which entered into a symbiotic relationship with the earliest eukaryotes and retains a degenerate, bacteria-like genome. The mt genome in animals consists of just 37 genes, 13 protein coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and 2 ribosomal RNA genes, as well as a regulatory element referred to as the Control Region. The arrangement of genes in the mt genome has been found to be generally conservative across higher taxonomic groups but vary considerably between groups. Insects are an exception to this rule in that several insect orders are highly variable in their gene orders – Phthiraptera (lice), Thysanoptera (thrips), Psocoptera (bark lice) and Hymenoptera (wasps). We are investigating the evolution of the mitochondrial genome in insects to determine the phylogenetic usefulness of gene arrangement data and total genome sequences. Specifically we have 4 projects going at this time:
Holometabola, insects with complete metamorphosis, account for more than 80% of insect species and more than 50% of all animal species. Holometabola is the most diverse and successful group of terrestrial organisms. Holometabola is comprised of 11 insect orders, four of which – Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Lepidoptera – account for over 99% of the species diversity of this group. Mecoptera, Strepsiptera, Megaloptera, and Raphidioptera each contain less than 1000 described species, and Trichoptera, Neuroptera, and Siphonaptera each contain less than 4000 species. Research is underway to decipher the phylogenetic relationships among these orders, and resolve some outstanding issues such as identifying the sister group to Hymenoptera. Click here to see some publications on holometabolan phylogeny.