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Evolution of Host Specialisation, Phylogeography and Taxonomic Revision of Xenidae (Strepsitera)
Benda, Daniel
Twisted-winged parasites (Strepsiptera: Xenidae) are an excellent group for studying the specialisation of parasites on hosts. Their parasitic lifestyle led to the evolution of numerous morphological, behavioural, physiological, and reproductive adaptations. Moreover, many complex adaptive traits of Strepsiptera have no parallel in other organisms. In contrast, little attention has been paid to the study of strepsipteran molecular phylogeny, phylogeography, species delimitation, and their implications for taxonomic classification. Using the methods of molecular phylogeny, we created the first dated phylogenetic study of the family Xenidae. By investigating historical biogeography and ancestral host groups, we indicate that multiple lineages were exchanged between the New World and the Old World + Australia until Antarctica became completely frozen over. During the late Paleogene and Neogene periods, several lineages spread from the Afrotropics to other Old World regions and Australia. The original hosts of Xenidae were most likely social wasps, and the subsequent host switch from social to solitary wasps was secondary and probably occurred only once. The parallel host switch from solitary wasps to digger wasps (Sphecidae) occurred independently in the New and Old World. The biogeography and...
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Evolution of Host Specialisation, Phylogeography and Taxonomic Revision of Xenidae (Strepsitera)
Benda, Daniel ; Straka, Jakub (advisor) ; Malenovský, Igor (referee) ; Cook, Jerry L. (referee)
Twisted-winged parasites (Strepsiptera: Xenidae) are an excellent group for studying the specialisation of parasites on hosts. Their parasitic lifestyle led to the evolution of numerous morphological, behavioural, physiological, and reproductive adaptations. Moreover, many complex adaptive traits of Strepsiptera have no parallel in other organisms. In contrast, little attention has been paid to the study of strepsipteran molecular phylogeny, phylogeography, species delimitation, and their implications for taxonomic classification. Using the methods of molecular phylogeny, we created the first dated phylogenetic study of the family Xenidae. By investigating historical biogeography and ancestral host groups, we indicate that multiple lineages were exchanged between the New World and the Old World + Australia until Antarctica became completely frozen over. During the late Paleogene and Neogene periods, several lineages spread from the Afrotropics to other Old World regions and Australia. The original hosts of Xenidae were most likely social wasps, and the subsequent host switch from social to solitary wasps was secondary and probably occurred only once. The parallel host switch from solitary wasps to digger wasps (Sphecidae) occurred independently in the New and Old World. The biogeography and...
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The private agricultural sector during communism in Czechoslovakia
Benda, Daniel ; Jančík, Drahomír (advisor) ; Jakubec, Ivan (referee)
This bachelor's thesis is prepared as an overview of the functioning of the private agricultural sector in Czechoslovakia during the period of communism (1948-1989). In addition to the more generally known facts about the course of collectivization in the 1950s, it brings completely new and previously unpublished information about the lives of private farmers after the end of the collectivization process after 1960. However, it avoids the specifics of the Slovak region, and instead focuses territorially on South Bohemia. Structurally, the work is divided into two larger parts. In the first, it deals with the issue chronologically, and in the second, it discusses individual topics from the professional and private life of private farmers in more detail. It answers the questions of how the private agricultural sector under communism before and after 1960 functioned economically, how it managed to resist collectivization and how its actors fared in private. In the conclusion, above all, it disproves the assumption of the existing historiography about private farmers after 1960 as insignificant islands pushed to the margins of society suffering from constant persecution and living in permanent poverty. It shows that the situation was different and more complicated in many ways and most of all depended...
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Evolution of host specificity and phylogeography of Strepsiptera parsites of the family Xenidae
Benda, Daniel ; Straka, Jakub (advisor) ; Malenovský, Igor (referee)
The twisted-wing parasites (Strepsiptera) are an endoparasitic order of insects with cosmopolitan distribution, which are sister group of Coleoptera. There are about 600 known species up to date. Strepsiptera parasitize seven insect orders (Thysanura, Orthoptera, Blattodea, Mantodea, Hemiptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera). The family Xenidae is one of the most derived groups of Strepsiptera. Its representatives parasitize aculeate Hymenoptera of three families (Vespidae, Sphecidae, Crabronidae). In comparison to the basal groups, there are well-known hosts for genera of the family Xenidae. Therefore, this group is suitable object for study of the evolution of host specialization. Phylogeny of the family Xenidae was constructed on the basis of molecular analysis of three genes. Moreover, the mapping of ancestral host major groups and biogeographic areas was performed using two methods (parsimony, maximum likelihood). According to the results, the family Xenidae is monophyletic group with Old World origin. There were a several independent switches to the same host groups. This significantly changes the existing ideas about evolution of host specialization and requires a taxonomic revision. Within the family Xenidae, there were several cases of dispersal between the Old World and the New World. Furthermore,...
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Biogeography and host spectrum of twisted-wings (Strepsiptera)
Benda, Daniel ; Straka, Jakub (advisor) ; Malenovský, Igor (referee)
Twisted-wings (Strepsiptera) are an endoparazitic order of insects with cosmopolitan distribution, which are sister group of Coleoptera. There are 7 known host insect orders. As a group with relatively small number of species (almost 600) and cryptic way of life, Strepsiptera were usually overlooked by entomologists. Majority of publications about Strepsiptera deal simply with describtion of new species. For many taxa of basal families, the host group is unknown, because just free flying male has been collected and described. In contrary, only a female collected with host is known in some species. In derived families Xenidae and Stylopidae (parasitize Hymenoptera: Aculeata), there are known hosts in overwhelming majority of species. Many information about distribution of these groups can be extracted also from publications about hosts, where stylopized individuals are mentioned. Presented thesis summarizes the distribution of Strepsiptera at the level of families and genera. It also provides an assessment of the occurrens of Strepsiptera in different biogeographic regions with focus on their hosts. Keywords: Twisted-wings, Strepsiptera, distribution, parasites, host group, biogeography
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