Phylogenomic tip-dating analysis of fossil and recent lineages of psenid wasps (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Psenidae)

• Grant number: 22/09215-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: November 01, 2022
• End date: October 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Eduardo Andrade Botelho de Almeida
• Grantee: Brunno Bueno da Rosa
• Supervisor: Bonnie Blaimer
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Museum für Naturkunde, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/13943-4 - Paleobiogeography of Psenidae (Hymenoptera, Apoidea): investigating the relationship between Gondwana and the Eurasian amber of the Cretaceous, BP.PD

Abstract

The Apoidea include bees and several groups of predatory wasps known as apoid wasps, totaling more than 30,000 living species. Inferring the phylogenetic relationships of such a diverse group has been a challenge for the past 30 years. Most results indicate that apoid wasps are paraphyletic in relation to bees. Among the living apoid taxa, Psenidae is one of the lineages indicated as a possible sister group to bees. Psenidae includes 18 genera, approximately 488 living species and at least six fossils from the Cretaceous and Paleogene. The crown group of Psenidae arose in the Cretaceous, most likely during the Late Cretaceous, with divergence time estimates ranging from Middle Aptian to Early Cenomanian. Although they are frequently represented in the phylogenetic analyses of Apoidea, there are no works that are directly aimed at resolving the phylogenetic relationships of this family in detail. The main goal of this project is to contribute to reconstructing the evolutionary history of Psenidae by investigating their phylogenetic relationships and estimating the time of divergence of fossil and recent lineages using tip-dating in a total evidence approach. Phylogenetic data from ultraconserved elements (UCEs) will be generated for a large sample of living psenid taxa, which will be combined with morphological data from the same taxa and representatives of extinct lineages. The association of UCEs and fossils with modern approaches of phylogenetic systematics will result in innovative phylogenomic research. (AU)