Beewolfphylogeny

Phylogeny of the genus Philanthus

In collaboration with Prof. Jon Seger (University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA) we are working on a phylogeny of the genus Philanthus. We have specimens of more than 20 beewolf species from different geographical locations, and we are currently evaluating the usefulness and information content of several candidate nuclear genes for the construction of a phylogeny of the genus (28s, ArgK, EF-1alpha, wingless, PEPCK). The phylogeny will be very useful for investigating the evolutionary history of the symbiosis between beewolves and bacteria, as well as the evolution of the male marking pheromone.