Fauna of the Neotropical Thynninae: distribution and new morphological and molecular data for the taxonomy of the group

• Grant number: 20/06632-2
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal researcher: Fernando Barbosa Noll
• Grantee: Eduardo Fernando dos Santos
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/09215-6 - Countering the taxonomic impediment of aculeate wasps: micro- and macroregional visions of the neotropical fauna, AP.BTA.TEM

Abstract

Thynninae (Hymenoptera: Tiphiidae) is the most diverse of the Tiphiidae subfamilies with about 75 genera and 600 species, which occur in the Neotropical and Australian Regions. Its most striking feature is sexual dimorphism, with apterous females, who spend most of their life in the soil in search of Coleoptera larvae, and winged males, who fly actively in search of nectar and females. Despite their unique characteristics and their importance as controllers of the population of other insects, the Thynninae have been highly neglected, so that very little is known about the group's biology. Its taxonomy is quite confusing and the distribution data for the vast majority of Neotropical species are restricted to the type localities. Based on this scenario, the present project aims to expand knowledge about the distribution of Neotropical Thynninae, to encode characters of the male genitalia of the genera, so that they can be used in phylogenetic analyses, and to extract and sequencing fragments of three molecular markers (COI, 12S and 28S) from males and females for the correct sexual association and for phylogenetic analyses. In order to collect the distribution data, it is intended to commit the greatest effort ever made to the study of these hymenopterans, rescuing important data from specimens deposited in the main North American, European and Australian museums, in addition to compiling the maximum amount of information present in national institutions that maintain entomological collections. For the study of the male genitalia, traditional techniques of extraction and cleaning and modern techniques of description and registration, through the use of computational algorithms of photography stacking, will be used. Phylogenetic analyses will be performed in a combined way, for molecular and morphological data, and based on the Parsimony method. Thus, as result, it is expected to compose a wide georeferenced database that can be used for countless other studies with different perspectives, such as biogeographic, taxonomic and ecological approaches. It is also hoped to better delimit the internal groups of Thynninae, such as tribes and genera, and to understand the evolutionary history of the group. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

LOPEZ, VINICIUS M.; CARDOSO, RENAN KOBAL DE OLIVEIRA ALVES; CARDOSO, OLIVEIRA ALVES; CEZARIO, RODRIGO R.; GUILLERMO-FERREIRA, RHAINER; SANTOS, EDUARDO F. DOS. New Species of Entypus (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) and notes on the natural history of some Atlantic Forest spider wasps. Zootaxa, v. 5061, n. 2, p. 361-368, NOV 4 2021. (20/06632-2, 19/09215-6)

FERNANDES, DANIELL RODRIGO RODRIGUES; RAFAEL, JOSE ALBERTINO; SOBRAL, RAFAEL; DOS SANTOS, EDUARDO FERNANDO. A new combination for Pompilus nesophilus Kirby, 1890 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): a forgotten spider wasp from archipelago of Fernando de Noronha (Pernambuco: Brazil). Zootaxa, v. 5047, n. 2, p. 197-200, SEP 29 2021. (20/06632-2, 19/09215-6)