When biologists set out to organize the family tree for the huge family of beetles, they ended up identifying previously unknown relationships for many of the beetle groups – somewhat like finding new cousins – and re-defining the major families, new research shows.
If you’ve ever tried to understand your family tree just as far back as two or three generations, you probably have some idea of the complex situation the researchers faced. Beetles represent almost a quarter of all described species, and the task was made more complicated by the fact that some of the relationships in the beetle family were unclear.
Toby Hunt and an international group of researchers used advanced computer techniques developed for biology to update the evolutionary-relatedness – or phylogenetic tree – of most of the recognized beetle families. A phylogenetic tree is a very complicated family tree.
Researchers also studied the diversity of the beetles and determined that they are so varied because many of the beetle species have a high survival rate and that beetles can adapt to a variety of situations. -American Association for the Advancement of Science
Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
