Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

11 Aug, 09 AM - 12 Aug, 11 AM

This research is one portion of a PhD thesis examining the evolution and ecology of the obligate pollination mutualism between moths in the genus Epicephala and their host plants in the family Phyllanthaceae (Euphorbiaceae sensu lato). In this interaction, like that between fig wasps and figs or yuccas and yucca moths, Epicephala moths actively pollinate the flowers of their host plants and then also oviposit into the ovaries so that the larvae feed on the developing seeds. This is a highly unusual behavior within the family Gracillariidae, the vast majority of whose members are leaf-miners or leaf-rollers. The goal of this project is to reconstruct a worldwide phylogeny of the Gracillariidae with as many genera represented as possible so as to ascertain whether seed-predation ultimately evolved from leaf-mining, or if Epicephala is sister to the rest of the Gracillariidae. Preliminary phylogenetic analysis (Hembry et al., unpublished) strongly suggests that Epicephala is nested within the leaf-mining gracillariids. However, all but one taxon in this analysis is from the Old World. Our goal is to include as many New Worls gracillariid genera as possible in order to improve the taxon sampling in these analyses. To this end, we plan to collect gracillariid moths from multiple University of California natural reserves, both by blacklighting and by rearing of larvae from the leaves of their host plants.

Visit #10740 @Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 7130 | Research

Phylogenetics of leaf-mining moths (Gracillariidae)

research_scientist - Kyoto University

Reservation Members(s)

Group of 2 Graduate Student Aug 11 - 12, 2006 (2 days)

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Redwood Camp 2 Aug 11 - 12, 2006