Department of Entomology

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Browsing Department of Entomology by Subject "0603 Evolutionary Biology"

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    Apheloria polychroma, a new species of millipede from the Cumberland Mountains (Polydesmida: Xystodesmidae)
    Marek, Paul E.; Means, Jackson C.; Hennen, Derek A. (Zootaxa, 2018-01-25)
    Millipedes of the genus Apheloria Chamberlin, 1921 occur in temperate broadleaf forests throughout eastern North America and west of the Mississippi River in the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains. Chemically defended with toxins made up of cyanide and benzaldehyde, the genus is part of a community of xystodesmid millipedes that compose several Müllerian mimicry rings in the Appalachian Mountains. We describe a model species of these mimicry rings, Apheloria polychroma n. sp., one of the most variable in coloration of all species of Diplopoda with more than six color morphs, each associated with a separate mimicry ring.
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    Determinants of dengue virus dispersal in the Americas
    Allicock, Orchid M.; Sahadeo, Nikita; Lemey, Philippe; Auguste, A. Jonathan; Suchard, Marc A.; Rambaut, Andrew; Carrington, Christine V. F. (Oxford University Press, 2020-07)
    Dengue viruses (DENVs) are classified into four serotypes, each of which contains multiple genotypes. DENV genotypes introduced into the Americas over the past five decades have exhibited different rates and patterns of spatial dispersal. In order to understand factors underlying these patterns, we utilized a statistical framework that allows for the integration of ecological, socioeconomic, and air transport mobility data as predictors of viral diffusion while inferring the phylogeographic history. Predictors describing spatial diffusion based on several covariates were compared using a generalized linear model approach, where the support for each scenario and its contribution is estimated simultaneously from the data set. Although different predictors were identified for different serotypes, our analysis suggests that overall diffusion of DENV-1, -2, and -3 in the Americas was associated with airline traffic. The other significant predictors included human population size, the geographical distance between countries and between urban centers and the density of people living in urban environments.
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    Genus-Wide Characterization of Bumblebee Genomes Provides Insights into Their Evolution and Variation in Ecological and Behavioral Traits
    Sun, Cheng; Huang, Jiaxing; Wang, Yun; Zhao, Xiaomeng; Su, Long; Thomas, Gregg W. C.; Zhao, Mengya; Zhang, Xingtan; Jungreis, Irwin; Kellis, Manolis; Vicario, Saverio; Sharakhov, Igor V.; Bondarenko, Semen M.; Hasselmann, Martin; Kim, Chang N.; Paten, Benedict; Penso-Dolfin, Luca; Wang, Li; Chang, Yuxiao; Gao, Qiang; Ma, Ling; Ma, Lina; Zhang, Zhang; Zhang, Hongbo; Zhang, Huahao; Ruzzante, Livio; Robertson, Hugh M.; Zhu, Yihui; Liu, Yanjie; Yang, Huipeng; Ding, Lele; Wang, Quangui; Ma, Dongna; Xu, Weilin; Liang, Cheng; Itgen, Michael W.; Mee, Lauren; Cao, Gang; Zhang, Ze; Sadd, Ben M.; Hahn, Matthew W.; Schaack, Sarah; Barribeau, Seth M.; Williams, Paul H.; Waterhouse, Robert M.; Mueller, Rachel Lockridge (Oxford University Press, 2021-02-01)
    Bumblebees are a diverse group of globally important pollinators in natural ecosystems and for agricultural food production. With both eusocial and solitary life-cycle phases, and some social parasite species, they are especially interesting models to understand social evolution, behavior, and ecology. Reports of many species in decline point to pathogen transmission, habitat loss, pesticide usage, and global climate change, as interconnected causes. These threats to bumblebee diversity make our reliance on a handful of well-studied species for agricultural pollination particularly precarious. To broadly sample bumblebee genomic and phenotypic diversity, we de novo sequenced and assembled the genomes of 17 species, representing all 15 subgenera, producing the first genus-wide quantification of genetic and genomic variation potentially underlying key ecological and behavioral traits. The species phylogeny resolves subgenera relationships, whereas incomplete lineage sorting likely drives high levels of gene tree discordance. Five chromosome-level assemblies show a stable 18-chromosome karyotype, with major rearrangements creating 25 chromosomes in social parasites. Differential transposable element activity drives changes in genome sizes, with putative domestications of repetitive sequences influencing gene coding and regulatory potential. Dynamically evolving gene families and signatures of positive selection point to genus-wide variation in processes linked to foraging, diet and metabolism, immunity and detoxification, as well as adaptations for life at high altitudes. Our study reveals how bumblebee genes and genomes have evolved across the Bombus phylogeny and identifies variations potentially linked to key ecological and behavioral traits of these important pollinators.