Origin and diversification of hoverflies: a revision of the genera Asarkina and Allobaccha – A BIG4 Consortium PhD project

Abstract

This BIG4 PhD project involves the overall taxonomic revision of the genera Allobaccha Curran and Asarkina Macquart (Diptera: Syrphidae). The revisions will be divided by biogeographic region (Afrotropical and Indomalayan) and published accordingly. The publications will be collated as a thesis for submission to the University of Bonn (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany) doctoral program of biology. The goal of this project is to resolve alpha taxonomy and to infer the phylogenetic placement of these genera within the Syrphidae using Next-Generation Sequencing and Anchored Hybrid Enrichment techniques. The techniques undertaken in this project will be applied to future systematic problems in Diptera and testing future phylogenetic hypotheses.

Systematics and evolution of predatory flower flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) based on exon‐capture sequencing

“…In the present study, we aimed to infer a robust phylogeny of the predatory flower flies (subfamilies Syrphinae and Pipizinae) and to address the problems of the current tribal classification in Syrphinae. A secondary aim was to infer the phylogenetic placement of Allobaccha and Asarkina Macquart, both genera in need of a taxonomic revision, as part of the project ‘BIG4 – Biosystematics, Informatics and Genetics of the big 4 insect groups: training tomorrow's researchers and entrepreneurs’ (http://big4-project.eu/ and https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/642241) (see Burt & Mengual, 2017). To accomplish our goals, we designed a new target DNA enrichment bait kit (SYRPHIDAE1.0) to capture and phylogenetically analyse more than 1300 single‐copy protein‐coding genes from 123 flower fly species belonging to all four subfamilies.…”