Date of Defense

Fall 10-1-2002

Department

Biological Sciences

First Advisor

David Cowan, Biology

Second Advisor

DeWayne Shoemaker, Biology, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Third Advisor

Todd Barkman, Biology

Keywords

mtDNA, phylogeny

Abstract

The evolutionary relationships among eumenine wasps are largely unknown. The authors analyzed mitochondrial DNA sequence data representing a portion of the cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships among 24 different wasp species from 9 genera. While our results generally support the monophyly of current generic classifications, the relationships among genera were unresolved. This lack of resolution may be attributed to saturation (i.e. multiple hits) caused by the high rate of evolution in the COI gene or to a true polytomy created by rapid radiation.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Campus Only

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