Ecophysiology, Morphology and Phylogeography of Insects in the Scotia Arc ...

• Main Author: Simoes, Felipe
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository 2019
• Subjects: insects; phylogeography; Antarctica; South America; Evolution; ecophysiology; morphology; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; South Orkney Islands; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.56411; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/309314

The Scotia Arc, comprising southern South America, South Georgia and the South Orkney Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula, is home to a range of understudied insect species which are constantly exposed to extreme environmental conditions. To help reduce the amount of uncertainty surrounding insect taxa evolution in the region, we aimed to elucidate the evolutionary relationships and divergence times of non-biting midges (Diptera) and beetles (Coleoptera) naturally occurring in the lands around the Scotia Arc. The main objectives here were to learn how the evolution of select species of these two orders of insects is linked to the region’s geographical history, through the use of phylogeography, and what kind of adaptations (morphological and physiological) they have developed to deal with the environmental conditions and changes, such as osmotic stress and desiccation tolerance. There was also an intrinsic objective to ascertain the taxonomy of the midge Telmatogeton magellanicus, which potentially belongs ...