Phylogeographic analyses of phytophagous insects and their hostplants in Himalayan region

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26440207
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Biodiversity/Systematics
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Yago Masaya 東京大学, 総合研究博物館, 助教 (70571230)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): IKEDA Hiroshi 東京大学, 総合研究博物館, 准教授 (30299177)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 自然史 / 生物地理 / 植食性昆虫 / 種分化 / ホットスポット / ヒマラヤ / 分子系統 / 国際情報交換

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The Himalayas and its surrounding regions are considered to represent the Himalayan subregion in the zoogeographic regions and have many endemic species and subspecies at the mid- and high-altitude areas. Based on the molecular and morphological data, we investigated the historical biogeography of several phytophagous endemic insects and their hostplants to determine the timing and origin of speciation events in this area. Our results show that the endemic insects and their hostplants may have evolved from the common ancestors of each group at 16-22, around 10 and 7-8 Mya in the Himalayas, probably due to the rapid uplift event of the Hinalayas, the initiation of the Indian monsoon and its enhancement, respectively. Additionally, some groups were taxonomically revised based on the analyses.

Free Research Field

昆虫自然史学