Systematics and Behavioral Evolution of Spider Wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae)

Systematics and Behavioral Evolution of Spider Wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) PDF Author: Cecilia Waichert Monteiro
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
A major area of investigation in evolutionary biology is the evolution of complex traits. The number of states, the order in which they arise, and the number of times a trait has evolved interest evolutionary biologists. Such studies are only made possible by reconstructing phylogenies in the context of the taxa. Biological investigations rely on accurate species designations and delimitations, and lack of well-defined taxonomic groups impedes scientific progress. Pompilidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera), popularly known as spider wasps, are predatory insects that provision their offspring with spiders as the sole food source. Adult female wasps attack spiders and paralyze them with venom, then place them in simple nests that are usually dug in the soil. Spider wasps form a large and cosmopolitan family with nearly 5,000 described species. Although all Pompilidae have similar biology, there is considerable variation in the nest construction and provisioning behavior; thus, this family could be useful for understanding the evolution of complex behavior. My study aims to evaluate and solve several taxonomic conflicts in spider wasps by reconstructing the complex evolution of behavioral patterns using a molecular phylogenetic framework. Early stages of sociality are found in spider wasps, such as communalism (females of same generation nesting together). My ultimate goal was to study the evolution of communalism in these wasps. I reconstructed relationships at the subfamily and tribal levels for the family, as well as generic and specific levels for pre-defined lineages using five nuclear markers (28S, EF, Pol2, LWRh, Wg), one mitochondrial marker (COI), and morphological characters. These studies comprise the first attempt to revise generic, tribal, and species delimitations for spider wasps, based on robust molecular evolutionary trees. Finally, by studying early stages of social evolution, my results will provide for a better understanding the evolution of social behavior in Hymenoptera as a whole.

Systematics and Behavioral Evolution of Spider Wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae)

Systematics and Behavioral Evolution of Spider Wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) PDF Author: Cecilia Waichert Monteiro
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
A major area of investigation in evolutionary biology is the evolution of complex traits. The number of states, the order in which they arise, and the number of times a trait has evolved interest evolutionary biologists. Such studies are only made possible by reconstructing phylogenies in the context of the taxa. Biological investigations rely on accurate species designations and delimitations, and lack of well-defined taxonomic groups impedes scientific progress. Pompilidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera), popularly known as spider wasps, are predatory insects that provision their offspring with spiders as the sole food source. Adult female wasps attack spiders and paralyze them with venom, then place them in simple nests that are usually dug in the soil. Spider wasps form a large and cosmopolitan family with nearly 5,000 described species. Although all Pompilidae have similar biology, there is considerable variation in the nest construction and provisioning behavior; thus, this family could be useful for understanding the evolution of complex behavior. My study aims to evaluate and solve several taxonomic conflicts in spider wasps by reconstructing the complex evolution of behavioral patterns using a molecular phylogenetic framework. Early stages of sociality are found in spider wasps, such as communalism (females of same generation nesting together). My ultimate goal was to study the evolution of communalism in these wasps. I reconstructed relationships at the subfamily and tribal levels for the family, as well as generic and specific levels for pre-defined lineages using five nuclear markers (28S, EF, Pol2, LWRh, Wg), one mitochondrial marker (COI), and morphological characters. These studies comprise the first attempt to revise generic, tribal, and species delimitations for spider wasps, based on robust molecular evolutionary trees. Finally, by studying early stages of social evolution, my results will provide for a better understanding the evolution of social behavior in Hymenoptera as a whole.

Molecular Systematics, Historical Biogeography, and Evolution of Spider Wasps (Hymenoptera

Molecular Systematics, Historical Biogeography, and Evolution of Spider Wasps (Hymenoptera PDF Author: Juanita Rodriguez
Publisher:
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Spider wasps are solitary parasitoids that use one spider to lay a single egg. Even though their behavior seems homogeneous, the features pertaining to nesting and hunting behavior are diverse for different species. There are approximately 5,000 described species, in 120 genera, but there are probably many undescribed species. The systematics of Pompilidae has been studied in recent years, but only morphological data have been used for this purpose. Because of the morphological homogeneity of spider wasps, molecular data may prove promising for understanding the systematics of the group. Furthermore, dated molecular phylogenies calibrated with fossil data may allow studying the historical biogeography and evolution of the group.

A Taxonomic Study of the Nearctic Spider Wasps Belonging to the Tribe Pompilini (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae)

A Taxonomic Study of the Nearctic Spider Wasps Belonging to the Tribe Pompilini (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) PDF Author: Howard Ensign Evans
Publisher: Legare Street Press
ISBN: 9781022229266
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book is a taxonomic study of spider wasps in the Nearctic region, which includes North America and parts of Central America. The author provides detailed information on the classification, morphology, and behavior of spider wasps in the tribe Pompilini. Anyone interested in entomology or insect conservation will find this book valuable. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Evolution of Social Wasps

The Evolution of Social Wasps PDF Author: James H. Hunt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198042078
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Social behavior occurs in some of the smallest animals as well as some the largest, and the transition from solitary life to sociality is an unsolved evolutionary mystery. In The Evolution of Social Wasps, James H. Hunt examines social behavior in a single lineage of insects, wasps of the family Vespidae. He presents empirical knowledge of social wasps from two approaches, one that focuses on phylogeny and life history and one that focuses on individual ontogeny, colony development, and population dynamics. He also provides an extensive summary of the existing literature while demonstrating how it can be clouded by theory. Hunt's fresh approach to the conflicting literature on sociality highlights how oft repeated models can become fixed in the thinking of the scientific community. Instead, Hunt presents a mechanistic scenario for the evolution of sociality in wasps that changes our perspective on kin selection, the paradigm that has dominated thinking about social evolution since the 1970s. This innovative new model integrates life history, nutrition, fitness and ecology in which social insect biologists will find a rich storehouse of ideas and information, and behavioral ecologists will find a bracing challenge to long accepted models. Engagingly written, bold, and provocative, The Evolution of Social Wasps marks a milestone in our understanding of one of lifes major evolutionary transitions - the origin of social behavior.

Systematics and Nesting Behavior of Australian Bembix Sand Wasps (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae)

Systematics and Nesting Behavior of Australian Bembix Sand Wasps (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae) PDF Author: Howard Ensign Evans
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bees
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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California Spider Wasps of the Subfamily Pompilinae (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae)

California Spider Wasps of the Subfamily Pompilinae (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae) PDF Author: Marius S. Wasbauer
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520099579
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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A Taxonomic Study of the Nearctic Spider Wasps Belonging to the Tribe Pompilini (Hymenoptera

A Taxonomic Study of the Nearctic Spider Wasps Belonging to the Tribe Pompilini (Hymenoptera PDF Author: Howard Ensign Evans
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9780282068691
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
Excerpt from A Taxonomic Study of the Nearctic Spider Wasps Belonging to the Tribe Pompilini (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), Vol. 1 Up to the year 1865 a few miscellaneous North American Pompilidae had been described by Linnaeus, Fabricius, Say, Smith, and a few others. In that year appeared the first of several papers by E. T. Cresson, .in which he greatly increased our knowledge Of these wasps. Of particular note is Cresson's Notes On the Pompilidae Of North America, which was the first attempt at an organized treatment Of the members Of the family on this continent.1 Although without keys, it is a most valuable descrip tive work and a necessary source Of reference for all subsequent workers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Braconid and Ichneumonid Parasitoid Wasps

The Braconid and Ichneumonid Parasitoid Wasps PDF Author: Donald L. J. Quicke
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118907051
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 756

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Book Description
The Ichneumonoidea is a vast and important superfamily of parasitic wasps, with some 60,000 described species and estimated numbers far higher, especially for small-bodied tropical taxa. The superfamily comprises two cosmopolitan families - Braconidae and Ichneumonidae - that have largely attracted separate groups of researchers, and this, to a considerable extent, has meant that understanding of their adaptive features has often been considered in isolation. This book considers both families, highlighting similarities and differences in their adaptations. The classification of the whole of the Ichneumonoidea, along with most other insect orders, has been plagued by typology whereby undue importance has been attributed to particular characters in defining groups. Typology is a common disease of traditional taxonomy such that, until recently, quite a lot of taxa have been associated with the wrong higher clades. The sheer size of the group, and until the last 30 or so years, lack of accessible identification materials, has been a further impediment to research on all but a handful of ‘lab rat’ species usually cultured initially because of their potential in biological control. New evidence, largely in the form of molecular data, have shown that many morphological, behavioural, physiological and anatomical characters associated with basic life history features, specifically whether wasps are ecto- or endoparasitic, or idiobiont or koinobiont, can be grossly misleading in terms of the phylogeny they suggest. This book shows how, with better supported phylogenetic hypotheses entomologists can understand far more about the ways natural selection is acting upon them. This new book also focuses on this superfamily with which the author has great familiarity and provides a detailed coverage of each subfamily, emphasising anatomy, taxonomy and systematics, biology, as well as pointing out the importance and research potential of each group. Fossil taxa are included and it also has sections on biogeography, global species richness, culturing and rearing and preparing specimens for taxonomic study. The book highlights areas where research might be particularly rewarding and suggests systems/groups that need investigation. The author provides a large compendium of references to original research on each group. This book is an essential workmate for all postgraduates and researchers working on ichneumonoid or other parasitic wasps worldwide. It will stand as a reference book for a good number of years, and while rapid advances in various fields such as genomics and host physiological interactions will lead to new information, as an overall synthesis of the current state it will stay relevant for a long time.

The Social Biology of Wasps

The Social Biology of Wasps PDF Author: Kenneth G. Ross
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801499067
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 702

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Book Description
Phylogenetic relationships and the origin of social behavior in the Vespidae. The solitary and presocial Vespidae. The Stenogastrinae. Polistes. Belonogaster, Mischocyttarus, Parapolybia, and independent-founding Ropalidia. The swarm-founding Polistinae. Vespa and Provespa. Dolichovespula and Vespula. Reproductive competition during colony establishment. Evolution of queen number and queen control. Polyethism. Nourishment and the evolution of the social vespidae. Population genetic structure, relatedness, and breeding systems. Evolution of nest architecture. The nest as the locus of social life. The function and evolution of exocrine glands. Evolution of social behavior in sphecid wasps.

Solitary Wasps

Solitary Wasps PDF Author: Kevin M. O'Neill
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801437212
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
"Solitary Wasps: Behavior and Natural History is the first general survey of the subject in more than 25 years and is the best place to turn for information about the biology and compelling behavior of these common insects. Topics covered in Solitary Wasps: Behavior and Natural History include: classification of the solitary wasps and their relation to other Hymenoptera; foraging and nesting behaviors; mating and parental strategies; thermoregulation; natural enemies; defensive strategies; and directions for future research."--Jacket.