Bernasconi
Fakultäten » Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät » Evolutionsbiologie und Umweltwissenschaften, Institut für » Evolutionary Biology » Prof. Dr. Paul Ward (verstorben) » Bernasconi
Completed research project
| Title / Titel | Molecular phylogeny of European Dolichopodidae (Insecta: Diptera, Brachycera) | ||||||
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| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||||||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | Systematic and phylogenetic studies in biology are important in a number of ways (e.g. provision of names for organisms, identification keys) and encompass several areas of study (e.g. biotechnology, ecology, agriculture, evolutionary biology, pharmacology, human and veterinary medicine, parasitology, conservation biology, and many others). Moreover, taxonomy and phylogenetic studies in particular, can add greatly to other areas of biological science in which the comparative method is central to experimental design and data interpretation. With over 6.000 described species in more than 200 genera, long-legged flies or Dolichopodidae are among the most speciose families of Diptera. This is likely to be a considerable underestimate of the real biodiversity, especially in the tropics, where tens of new species are discovered each year. In Europe, about 800 species are recognised (and more than 200 in Switzerland). As both larvae and adults of most species are predaceous and feed on small soft-bodied arthropods, they have been considered beneficial for pest control. Dolichopodidae are also excellent bio-indicators for the evaluation of natural areas or habitat alterations by man or nature. Conspicuous male secondary sexual characters on the legs, wings, head, or abdomen are characteristic of this taxon. They play an important role in the courtship behaviour of the males and are considered outstanding characters for phylogenetic research. However, at present, reliable knowledge on the phylogeny of Dolichopodidae is largely lacking and their reproductive biology is also largely unexplored. Our previous research on the phylogeny of the Dolichopodidae undoubtedly provided a first reliable basis for the study of intrageneric phylogeny in Dolichopodidae, but was clearly not sufficient to resolve higher level phylogeny between most genera and between subfamilies. In order to achieve this, more DNA sequences (both mitochondrial and nuclear) need to be incorporated in future analyses and the number of samples and key species extended. In the most important stage of the project, mainly European species with a rather stable systematic status will be involved. This data set will form the basis for testing a large number of existing hypotheses on the systematic position of species and genera as well as on the composition of subfamilies. In the future, this data set based on European species and the resulting phylogenetic tree(s) has the potential to serve as a reliable basis for the exploration of the megadiverse and largely unknown Neotropical faunas. This project will represent, therefore, a detailed phylogenetic analysis of the Family Dolichopodidae. The existence of this phylogenetic framework will also be of primary importance for future projects on these flies, particularly for those in which the comparative method is crucial to experimental design and analysis. Thanks to the insights generated by our research, some selected Dolichopodidae species have the potential to become suitable model organisms in other areas of biological research (e.g. behaviour, animal ecology, and evolution). | ||||||
| Publications / Publikationen | Bernasconi, M.V., Pollet, M., & Ward, P.I. (2007). Molecular systematics of Dolichopodidae (Diptera) inferred from COI and 12S rDNA gene sequences based on European exemplars. Invertebrate Systematics, 21(5): 453-470.Bernasconi, M.V., Pollet, M., Varini-Ooijen, M. & Ward, P.I. (2007). Phylogeny of European Dolichopus and Gymnopternus (Diptera, Dolichopodidae) and the significance of morphological characters inferred from molecular data. European Journal of Entomology 104(3): 601–617.Kutty, S.N., Bernasconi, M.V., Sifner, F. & Meier, R. (2007). Sensitivity analysis, molecular systematics and natural history evolution of Scathophagidae (Diptera: Cyclorrhapha: Calyptratae). Cladistics 23: 64-83.Bernasconi, M.V., Pawlowski, J., Valsangiacomo, C., Piffaretti, J.C. & Ward, P.I. (2000): Phylogeny of the Scathophagidae (Diptera, Calyptratae) based on mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 16: 308-315.Bernasconi, M.V., Valsangiacomo, C., Piffaretti, J.C. & Ward, P.I. (2000): Phylogenetic relationships among Muscoidea (Diptera, Calyptratae) based on mitochondrial DNA sequences. Insect Molecular Biology 9: 67-74. | ||||||
| Keywords / Suchbegriffe | Flies, Insects, Diptera, Dolichopodidae, molecular phylogeny, mitochondrial DNA, nuclear DNA, systematic, taxonomy, morphology, ecology, distribution, Europe. | ||||||
| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
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| Other links to external web pages | http://www.zm.uzh.ch/zmneu/forschung/forscher.php?id=5 | ||||||
| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
SNF (Personen- und Projektförderung) |
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| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Jan 2008 to Dec 2007 |