Progress 10/01/10 to 09/30/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The outputs of our research on "The systematics and behavioral ecology of insects" are disseminated to the scientific community through publishing peer-reviewed articles in the primary literature, and making presentations at scientific meetings and to other academic units and institutions. The findings from our research are reported to the general public through popular press articles and educational materials posted on the world-wide web. Presentations made during this reporting period include: Branham, M.A. and J.E. Light (2010) "Molecules and fossils: Divergence time estimation for studying the evolution of bioluminescence in Coleoptera." Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, San Diego, CA.,Branham, M.A. (2011) "The Evolution of Fireflies and their Courtship Signals," National Science Foundation, Division of Environmental Biology, Arlington, VA., Hodson, A.H. and M.A. Branham (2010) "The evolution of bioluminescence within the firefly genus Phausis (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)." Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, San Diego, CA.,Scott, C.H. and M.A. Branham (2010) "A preliminary phylogenetic analysis of the lichen moth subtribe Cisthenina and its position within the tribe Lithosiini (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Arctiinae): using morphological data." Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, San Diego, CA. PARTICIPANTS: Graduate students under my direction: Jennfier Zaspel, PhD (graduated Dec. 2008) studies the systematics and evolution of blood-feeding moths in the tribe Calpinni: Clare Scott, doctoral student studies the systematics and evolution of lichen feeding moths in the family Noctuidae; and Alicia Hodson, masters student (graduated in Dec. 2011) who revised the North American firefly genus Phausis and is in the process of describing several new species in this genus. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences of this project included the scientific community and the general public. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The outcomes of our research that was supported in part with Hatch Funds have been numerous, wide-ranging and have been contributions to the fields of systematics, morphology taxonomy and biodiversity studies. Our contributions this year have been especially significant in advancing research on the firefly family Lampyridae. We have described a new and rare species of firefly from Vietnam and have clarified its position in the classification of the Lampyridae. We have also found evidence for two new firefly species in the genus Phausis that occur in the Smokey Mountains of the United States. My student's master's research into this group of beetles will culminate in a genus-wide revision of all known species of Phausis and will include an identification key to species. This contribution, expected to be submitted for publication in 2012 will stimulate future research in this group of beetles. In collaboration with Steven Luk and Steve Marshall I have published a very user-friendly web-based identification key for the fireflies of Ontario. Comprehensive, detailed and user-friendly identification keys such as this are in great demand by the systematics community in order to identify the biodiversity of various geographical regions of the world. In addition, my resent research on applying molecular dating techniques to study the evolution of the origins of bioluminescence in beetles has yielded new and important findings. I am currently writing these results up for publication. Additional research in my lab has focused on the evolution of blood-feeding and lichen-feeding moths in the family Noctuidae. This work has lead to a comparative survey of proboscis morphology in blood-feeding moths and their relative that was published in a leading peer-reviewed journal devoted to the study of morphology. Using detailed scanning electron microscopy we were able to discover and document several new morphological features that were new to science. This work is the first of its kind and represents a significant contribution to the study of mouthpart morphology and evolution.
Publications
- Gill, H. K., R. McSorley and M. Branham 2011. Effect of organic mulches on soil surface insects and other arthropods. Florida Entomologist 94(2): 226-232.
- Jeng, M., M.A. Branham and M.S. Engel 2011. A second species of Oculogryphus (Coleoptera: Lampyridae), with notes on the phylogenetic affinities of the genus. ZooKeys 97: 31-38.
- Luk, S.P.L, S.A. Marshall and M.A. Branham 2011. The fireflies of Ontario (Coleoptera: Lampyridae). The Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification No. 16, 2 June 2011, available online at http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ejournal/lmb_16/lmb_16.html doi: 10.3752/cjai.2011.16
- Oba, Y., M.A. Branham and T. Fukatsu 2011. Terrestrial luminous animals in Japan. Zoological Science 28(11): 771-789.
- Zaspel, J.M., S.J. Weller and M.A. Branham 2011. A comparative survey of proboscis morphology and associated structures in fruit-piercing, tear feeding, and blood-feeding moths in the subfamily Calpinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Zoomorphology 130: 203-225.
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Progress 10/01/08 to 09/30/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The outputs of our research on "The systematics and behavioral ecology of insects" are disseminated to the scientific community through publishing primary literature, and making presentations at scientific meetings and to other academic units and institutions. Our findings are reported to the public through popular press articles and educational materials posted on the internet. Eight resentations were made during 2009: Branham, M.A. and J. Light, "Dating the Origins of Bioluminescence in Coleoptera" University of Florida, Departmental Seminar, Department of Entomology and Nematology, Gainesville. Branham, M.A., "The Evolution of Fireflies and their Courtship Signals" Departmental Seminar, Clemson University, Department of Entomology, Soils and Plant Sciences, Clemson, SC. Branham, M.A., "The Biogeography of Caribbean Lampyridae" Symposia - Caribbean Insects, Florida Entomological Society Annual Meeting, Ft. Myers, FL. Ingley, S.J., Bybee, S.M., Fogarty, F. A., Branham, M.A., "Genes and Flight: Evolution of the Pseudostigmatid Wing (Odonata:Pseudostigmatidae)." Meeting of Beckman Scholars. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Ingley, S.J., Bybee, S.M., Fogarty, F. A., Branham, M.A., "Life on the Fly: Ecology and Evolution of the Helicopter Damselflies (Odonata: Pseudostigmatidae)." Oral Presentation, Undergraduate Research Assistantship Program Research Symposium. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Ingley, S.J., Bybee, S.M., Fogarty, F. A., Branham, M.A., "Wings, Oviposition and Spider-Feeding: Evolution and Ecology of the Endangered Helicopter Damselflies (Odonata: Pseudostigmatidae)." Oral presentation, 6th Annual Southeastern Ecology and Evolution Conference, Gainesville, FL. Scott, C.H. and M.A. Branham, "The contribution of morphology to a phylogenetic analysis of Crambidia (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Arctiinae): a preliminary investigation." 2009 Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, Indianapolis, IN. Zaspel, J.M. and M.A. Branham, "Phylogeny of the vampire moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and the evolution of hematophagy based on morphological data." 2009 Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, Indianapolis, IN. Press Coverage during 2009: Interviews relating to firefly behavior and evolution were given to and disseminated by the following local media outlets: Daytona Beach Journal, Daytona, FL and the Dayton Daily News, Dayton, OH. PARTICIPANTS: Graduate students under my direction: Jennifer Zaspel, Ph.D. (graduated Dec. 2008) studies the systematics and evolution of blood feeing moths in the tribe Calpiini; Seth Bybee, Ph.D. (graduated Dec. 2008) studies the systematics and evolution of Holodonata; Kyle Beucke, Ph.D. candidate (graduated Dec. 2009) studied the systematics and biogeography of Mycotrupes beetles; Eugenio Nearns, M.S. (graduated Aug. 2006, currently a doctoral student at the University of New Mexico) conducted a revision of the tribes Curiini and Plectomerini; and Bradley Smith, M.S. student (graduated May 2009) studies the quantification of species diversity in Colombian fireflies. TARGET AUDIENCES: Scientific Community, general public. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
Reconstructing the evolution of insect behavior across multiple insect lineages. Our findings indicate that blood-feeding Calyptra species do not possess any special morphological adaptations that are unique to blood-feeding. It appears that once the proboscis is sufficiently modified to pierce the skin of thick fruit, it is also able to pierce mammal epidermis. These moths do not derive nourishment from their blood meals, but rather acquire valuable salts through this method. Therefore, the jump from fruit-piercing behavior to blood-feeding behavior appears to be a small one and could represent the early stage of a transition from fruit-piercing to "true" blood-feeding. Evolution of flight in Holodonata. We undertook a comprehensive morphological and molecular phylogenetic analysis of dragonfly phylogeny, examining both extant and fossil lineages in simultaneous analyses. Fossil taxa did not seem to provide signals crucial to recovering a robust phylogeny, but were critical to understanding the evolution of key morphological features associated with flight. Characters associated with wing structure were optimized revealing two wing character complexes: the pterostigma-nodal brace complex and the costal wing base & costal-ScP junction complex. This analysis represents the first phylogenetic test of character evolution focused on the structures that comprise the dragonfly and damselfly wing. Our finding of two character complexes, i.e. wing features that evolve as a group, have significant implications to studies of the aerodynamics of insect wings and wings in general. Speciation and biogeography of the genus Mycotrupes. Based on our phylogenetic analysis, the most basal Mycotrupes species are found in South Caroline and the most derived species are found in southern Florida. This pattern is consistent with the hypothesis that the genus dispersed in a southward direction and colonized sand dune systems as ancient sea levels receded. As these beetles are flightless, the limited mobility may have played an additional factor in limiting gene flow between isolating populations. While we conducted Time Since Divergence Calculations, we were unable to correlate any speciation event in this beetle genus to any specific geological event. Faunal survey of the fireflies of Colombia. We used three different methods for estimating the diversity of firefly species across the country of Columbia to better quantify where biodiversity hotspots were located and determine the limitations of each method. In addition, we used niche modeling methods to model the species distribution based on known collection events and correlations of these events with environmental features such as elevation, rainfall, temperature, etc. We examined the distribution of firefly species grouped into three general signaling systems: pheromone use, pheromone + bioluminescent signals, sole use of bioluminescent signals.
Publications
- No papers published on this studies in 2009.
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Progress 10/01/07 to 09/30/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The outputs of our research on "The systematics and behavioral ecology of insects" are disseminated to the scientific community through publishing primary literature and making presentations at scientific meetings and to other academic units and institutions. Our findings are reported to public via popular press articles and materials posted on the internet. Presentations made during 2008: Beucke, K.A. and M.A. Branham. Variation in the stridulatory apparatus in Mycotrupes beetles (Coleoptera: Geotrupidae). 2008 Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America. Branham, M.A. The Evolution of Fireflies and their Sexual Signals. University of California - Riverside, Department of Entomology, Riverside, CA. Branham, M.A. The Evolution of Fireflies and their Sexual Signals. Texas A+M University, Department of Entomology, College Station, TX. Nearns, E.H. and M.A. Branham. Biogeography of two genera of longhorned beetles occurring in the Caribean. 2008 Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America. Smith, B. and M.A. Branham. Species diversity in Colombian fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae). Symposium on the biodiversity and conservation of fireflies, Thailand. Smith, B. and M.A. Branham. Predicting the geographic distribution of sexual signaling systems of Colombian fireflies. 2008 Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America. Zaspel, J.M. Tales of true vampires: investigating the biology, behavior and systematics of blood-feeding moths and their fruit-piercing relatives (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Calpinae), Crop Sciences Departmental Seminar, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden (January 22). Zaspel, J.M. and M.A. Branham. Comparative survey of proboscis morphology in fruit-piercing and blood-feeding moths in the subfamily Calpinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), 2008 Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America. Press Coverage during 2008: Interviews relating to dragonfly and damselfly behavior and evolution were given to and disseminated by the following local media outlets: the St. Petersburg Times, the Miami Harold, the Palm Beach Post, and Palm Beach Post Radio "National Geographic News" printed a short article on our discovery of blood-feeding in a species of Calyptra moth from Russia in an article entitled, "Vampire Moth Discovered -- Evolution at Work." (Author: John Roch October 27). PARTICIPANTS: Graduate students under my direction: Jennifer Zaspel, Ph.D. candidate, studies the systematics and evolution of blood feeing moths in the tribe Calpiini; Seth Bybee, Ph.D. candidate, studies the systematics and evolution of Holodonata; Kyle Beucke, Ph.D. candidate, studies the systematics and biogeography of Mycotrupes beetles; Eugenio Nearns, M.S. (graduated Aug. 2006, currently a doctoral student at the University of New Mexico) conducted a revision of the tribes Curiini and Plectomerini; and Bradley Smith, M.S. student, studies the quantification of species diversity in Colombian fireflies. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Evolution of fruit-piercing and blood-feeding in Calyptra moths: Using phylogenetic methods, we tested the hypothesis of a directional progression of feeding types from nectar feeding to fruit-piercing to skin-piercing and blood-feeding in calpine moths. We found a directional trend from nectar-feeding to fruit-piercing to blood-feeding, with no more than four origins and no losses of blood-feeding in these moths. Evolution of flight in Holodonata: Our data supports the hypothesis that directional flight and gliding are the most primitive from of flight and that petiolate wings, used mainly for hovering, arose twice in this insect lineage. Further, we found that multiple wing venation structures, including the nodus and arculus have arisen and evolved in a correlated fashion. This indicates that these wing characters are coupled in a way that they influence how each change through evolutionary time. Speciation and biogeography of the genus Mycotrupes: Using a molecular phylogenetic methods, we were able to test the whether the five currently recognized Mycotrupes species form legitimate evolutionary units. We found that morphological variation between these species was limited. Through sequencing and analysis of the Cytochrome Oxidase I gene we were able to identify a previously unknown cryptic species within the previously described Mycotrupes cartwrighti species. Faunal survey of the fireflies of Colombia: We used collection data from firefly specimens collected within the national park system of Colombia to generate hypothetical species distributions for 273 morphospecies using species distribution modeling algorithms. The phylogenetic relationships within the moth tribe Calpini: We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships of the fruit-piercing and blood-feeding moths in the tribe Calpini using both morphological and molecular data. These phylogenetic relationships were used to comment on the current taxonomy used for the moth tribe Calpini. The phylogenetic analysis and higher level taxonomic relationships within the Holodonata/Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies): We conducted the first comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of holodonate phylogeny, which includes both fossil and extant taxa sampled for a wide range of morphological and molecular characters. The revision and phylogeny of the longhorned beetle tribe Curiini: A revision and phylogenetic analysis of the tribe Curiini was completed. Our phylogenetic analysis indicated that the tribe was polyphyletic. Based on the topology of the phylogenetic tree, we were able to revise the taxonomy of this group by defining and naming a new tribe Plectromerini Nearns and Branham and synonymizing the genus Curiosa with Plectromerus. Eight new species were described and illustrated: Plectromerus dezayasi, P. giesberti, P. hovorei, P. josephi, P. turnbowi, P. michelii, P. morrisi and P. thomasi. In addition, seven species were redescribed and illustrated. An identification key to all Plectromerus species as well as a biogeographic analysis was included.
Publications
- Bybee, S.M., T.H. Ogden, M.A. Branham, and M.F. Whiting. 2008. Molecules, Morphology and Fossils: A Comprehensive Approach to Odonate Phylogeny and the Evolution of the Odonate Wing. Cladistics. 24: 477-514.
- Nearns, E.H. and M.A. Branham. 2008. Revision and phylogeny of the tribe Curiini LeConte and Plectromerini Nearns & Branham, new tribe (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae). Memoirs of the American Entomological Society, 47: 1-117.
- Zaspel, J.M. 2008. Skin-piercing and blood-feeding moths. in J.L. Capinera (ed.) Encyclopedia of Entomology, 2nd Ed., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands. p. 3383-3386.
- Zaspel, J.M. and Branham, M.A. 2008. World checklist of tribe Calpini (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Calpinae). Insecta Mundi 47: 1-15.
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