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Hymenopteran Molecular Phylogenetics: From Apocrita To Braconidae (Ichneumonoidea), Barbara J. Sharanowski

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Two separate phylogenetic studies were performed for two different taxonomic levels within Hymenoptera. The first study examined the utility of expressed sequence tags for resolving relationships among hymenopteran superfamilies. Transcripts were assembled from 14,000 sequenced clones for 6 disparate Hymenopteran taxa, averaging over 660 unique contigs per species. Orthology and gene determination were performed using modifications to a previously developed computerized pipeline and compared against annotated insect genomes. Sequences from additional taxa were added from public databases with a final dataset of 24 genes for 16 taxa.

The concatenated dataset recovered a robust and well-supported topology; however, there was extreme …