DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Winging It! Phylogeny and Evolution of the Helicopter Damselflies (Pseudostigmatidae: Odonata)

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

This research focuses on a group of very large, unique and endangered insects, the helicopter damselflies. These insects exhibit unique feeding and flight behaviors and have adopted a unique habitat for damselflies (forest canopy dweller). These characteristics have resulted in several structural adaptations to the wing in both form and support. Two other features make helicopter damselflies an appropriate group for studying the evolution of wing structures within insects: they are members of one of the most primitive winged groups of insects alive today (Odonata) and they have one of the best fossil records of any insect lineage. This research will also focus on determining evolutionary relationships within this and a related group of damselflies. This research focuses on a familiar group of organisms, damselflies, and will generate baseline data that are needed for their conservation. Further, this research seeks data from multiple sources (DNA and morphology from living and fossil specimens), in order to study insect wing evolution over the past 100 million years. This information has applications to the field of biomechanics, such as insect wing modeling and the design of micro air vehicles. Results from this research will have a broad educational impact via development of an online Tutorial On Evolution designed for use in the high school classroom, peer-reviewed publications, and by depositing image data on the on-line image database, MorphBank.