Date of Award:

5-2014

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Biology

Committee Chair(s)

James P. Pitts (Committee Co-Chair), Carol D. von Dohlen (Committee Co-Chair)

Committee

James P. Pitts

Committee

Carol D. von Dohlen

Committee

Kimberly A. Sullivan

Committee

Edward W. Evans

Committee

James Strange

Committee

Steve Larson

Abstract

The study of the diversity and classification of any group of organisms provides a foundation for further scientific studies in ecology, evolution, and conservation. Insects are among the most diverse organisms that inhabit the planet, but knowledge of their diversity and classification is still limited. One understudied group of insects is spider wasps. These are solitary parasitoids that use one spider to lay a single egg. There are approximately 5,000 described species, and many more to be described. Unfortunately, fewer than 10 scientists worldwide study these insects. One reason the group has not been very well studied is the difficulty in telling species apart. This makes their classification troubling. With the advent of molecular genetics methods, the use of molecular data to understand the classification and evolution of various groups is now possible. My dissertation uses molecular data to understand the classification of spider wasps, as well as their evolutionary relations. The evolutionary trees produced by these analyses are helpful to study the causes of current distributions of species, the diversification and the evolution of the group. Molecular phylogenetic results support the utility of the use of molecular markers for species delimitation and sex-associations in Pompilidae, the correlation of host use with diversification rate-shifts, the coevolution of mimic pompilids with velvet ants, and various biogeographical hypotheses never tested before for spider wasps.

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