Researcher

Desi Robertson

Glossosomatidae occurs worldwide and contains approximately 500 species. Larvae use sand to construct portable cases shaped like tortoise shells. They are abundant in cool, flowing water where they graze on algae on the exposed surface of submerged rocks. Of the 3 glossosomatid subfamilies, Protoptilinae is the most diverse, containing 18 genera and 220 described species. The subfamily has a disjunct distribution: 14 genera occur in the Nearctic and Neotropics; the remaining 4 are found in the East Palaearctic and Oriental biogeographical regions. In the Neotropics it is the only glossosomatid subfamily to occur, and there the group reaches its greatest species and generic diversity. Many new protoptiline species have been discovered recently from this region and these await description. Additionally, several new species have been discovered that do not fit into any currently described genus; these may represent new genera. Genera and species described in the older literature lack modern descriptions and illustrations. Furthermore, no one has ever studied the evolutionary relationships among the genera and it is unclear if each genus (or even the subfamily) is monophyletic.

Objectives:

1. Delimit generic boundaries and infer the phylogeny of all 18 genera of world Protoptilinae, and place new genera using morphological data.
2. Complete species-level revisions of selected Neotropical genera, including the description of 20 new species.
3. Assess homologies of morphological characters (structures that share a common ancestry) across genera and establish a standardized terminology for these structures.
4. Test the monophyly of Protoptilinae using morphological and molecular data.
5. Study the historical biogeography of the group using molecular dating, fossil evidence, and biogeographic analysis.

Publications

Robertson, D.R. & R.W. Holzenthal. 2008. New species and a new record of Protoptila from Bolivia (Trichoptera: Glossosomatidae: Protoptilinae), Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 101:465-473.

Robertson, D.R. & R.W. Holzenthal. 2006. The Neotropical caddisfly genus Canoptila (Trichoptera: Glossosomatidae), Zootaxa 1272: 45-59.

Robertson, D.R. & R.W. Holzenthal. 2005. The Neotropical caddisfly genus Tolhuaca (Trichoptera: Glossosomatidae), Zootaxa 1063: 53-68.