The Trigonalidae (Hymenoptera: Trigonaloidea) are a vanishingly rare family of (largely) hyperparasitoid wasps, notorious for convoluted ontogeny. The Trigonalidae show surprising morphological diversity and lability, stymieing efforts at inferring their phylogeny from morphology. No molecular data have yet been used for that purpose.
I have begun a joint effort with the Borowiec Laboratory to infer the first-ever molecular phylogeny of the Trigonalidae from ultra-conserved elements (UCEs), with total-evidence divergence dating under the fossilized birth-death model anchoring their evolution in geological time, and ancestral-state reconstruction chronicling a complex biogeography. We will also replicate the phylogenomic analyses of Blaimer et al. (2023) with greatly expanded sampling of the Trigonalidae and their putative sister clade, the Megalyridae (Megalyroidea), to assess the placement of these two enigmatic wasp lineages.
I have begun a joint effort with the Borowiec Laboratory to infer the first-ever molecular phylogeny of the Trigonalidae from ultra-conserved elements (UCEs), with total-evidence divergence dating under the fossilized birth-death model anchoring their evolution in geological time, and ancestral-state reconstruction chronicling a complex biogeography. We will also replicate the phylogenomic analyses of Blaimer et al. (2023) with greatly expanded sampling of the Trigonalidae and their putative sister clade, the Megalyridae (Megalyroidea), to assess the placement of these two enigmatic wasp lineages.