Research Projects
The Effect of Endogenous Viral Symbiosis on Host Wasp Genome
Image Credit: Ikehiker, via Wikimedia Commons
License info: Public Domain
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Endogenous viruses are present in virtually all Eukaryotes, including humans. They are mostly relics of an ancient infection and usually have no effect on the hosts.
In certain parasitoid wasp taxa, endogenous viruses and their host have a symbiotic relationship. The virus is inserted along with the wasp's egg(s) into prey to protect the eggs and cripple the host immune system. In exchange, the wasp handles all viral replication and reproduction. Although research has been done on the effects of this relationship on the genome of the virus, there is much work to be done on the effect of this relationship on the wasp host genome. |
Ophionines of California and the addition of taxa into a phylogenetic reassessment of tribal limits
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Although the placement of Ophioninae within Ichneumonidae is known, the relationships within the subfamily remain unclear. Building off of the phylogenetic work done in Rousse et al. 2016, I investigated whether the tribal limits defined in that study would hold up with the addition of taxa from Southern California.
The morphological characters defining the three tribes (Ophionini, Enicospilini, and Ophionini) did not consistently match their Californian counterparts. As the tribal limits do not hold with the addition of new taxa, I urge that they are dissolved until the tribes are re-examined with integrative taxonomic methodology. |
