Australian auger beetles (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae)
Taxonomic revision and monograph of native, introduced, and frequently intercepted species
[Funded by Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Australia, 2023-2026]
Integrative taxonomy based on morphology and molecular data (high-throughput collection genomics).
Taxonomic revision of all Australian species, including descriptions of new genera and species.
New and comprehensive image database for Australian auger beetles.
New genomic datasets, including a comprehensive barcode reference library of expertly determined specimens.
Diagnostic tools for efficient biosecurity monitoring.
SEM images of diagnostic characters
(Images by Yun ‘Living’ Li)
Auger beetles in their natural habitats
(Images by Yun ‘Living’ Li)
Images of museum specimens
(Images by Yun ‘Living’ Li)
Microscopic images of diagnostic characters
(Images by Yun ‘Living’ Li)
Evolutionary drivers of biological invasion
Insights from economically and environmentally important insect groups (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae and Ptinidae)
Molecular phylogeny and taxonomy of net-winged beetles (Lycidae) in China
[Master project 2011-2014]
Taxonomic revision of net-winged beetles from China, including tribes Macrolycini, Lyponiini, Erotini, the paedomorphic lineages Platerodrilini and Ateliini (>100 species altogether).
Descriptions of two new genera and 27 new species.
Target sampling across 51 nature reserves in China, establishing the beetle ethanol collection at Sun Yat-sen Uni Museum (SYSM).
Molecular phylogeny, species delimitation, and biogeography of net-winged beetles in the east Palaearctic and Oriental Regions.
Sampling sites of Macrolycus species from China conducted by Yun ‘Living’ Li during 2010-2015
Sampling sites of Lyponia species from China conducted by Yun ‘Living’ Li during 2010-2015
Phylogenomics and ecomorphological evolution of darkling beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)
PhD project chapter one [2019-2023]
Darkling beetles are hyper-diverse. With over 30,000 species worldwide, they rank the seventh largest beetle family with enormous ecological and morphological diversity. Dedicated molecular studies of deep relationships within the family were scarce and uncertainty persists over the majority of back-bone relationships. Moreover, the lack of comprehensive ecomorphological datasets precluded a clear understanding of how the enormous biological diversity arose in the family. Here,
We offer a new and robust phylogenetic framework of the tenebrionid family using exon-capture, transcriptomic, and whole-genome sequencing, providing new insights into the higher level classification of the family.
We reconstruct the tempo and mode of morphological diversification to address three key questions related to the Simpsonian model of adaptive evolution: (1) are rapid bursts of morpho-
logical evolution associated with ecological transitions or environmental changes? (2) Is morphological convergence driven by repeated ecological specializations? (3) Under the same
geographical and environmental context, does ecological diversification dictate morphological evolution?
We show that the evolutionary history of this hyperdiverse beetle group is marked by ancient rapid radiations, frequent ecological transitions, and rapid bursts of morphological diversification.
Adaptive radiation across the continent
With over 500 species, the Gondwanan lineage of darkling beetles, Heleini, was considered by Eric Matthews as a potential example of adaptive radiation. They are hypothesized to have radiated on the Australian continent during the time that it was isolated, evolved into diverse body forms and filled into a variety of ecological niches. This project aims to test the adaptive radiation hypothesis of Heleine darkling beetles with robust phylogenetic and ecomorphological datasets and within a statistical framework. Specifically, I will test a number of characteristics regarding the tempo and mode of adaptive radiation by (i) examining diversification rates through time and across biomes (ii) investigating rates of morphological diversification to determine ecological opportunities that have contributed diversification rate shift and (iii) assessing the strength of convergence in body shape/leg morphology between distantly related lineages that occupy the same habitat.
Diversification in the Wet Tropics
On a regional scale, I will look at the Wet Tropics of Queensland, the largest remnant of Gondwanan rainforest in Australia. These isolated mountain blocks of rainforests, with high species richness and endemicity, provide an excellent template to study diversification, coexistence and persistence of lineages at multiple levels of divergence. I will focus on the flightless darkling beetle genus Apterotheca, with about 50 species restricted on mountain peaks in this region. These beetles are geographically restricted and rich in species diversity, thus have the potential to yield a fine-scale record of deep-time processes in the Wet Tropics. Species limits and the first phylogenetic hypothesis were established by Bouchard (2002) based on morphology. Also, analyses of multiple clades of flightless insects supported the ‘taxon pulse’ model as the main process that shaped regional species pools (Bouchard et al. 2005). By combining distribution and morphology with molecular phylogenies, I’ll revisit these questions and generalize these results with published vertebrate data.