begin rant

Inoue and Sakurai's 2007 paper represents some excellent work, but as the figure simplifying some of their results demonstrates, it also shows how little effort has been placed on sequencing the genus Scirtothrips when compared to other genera of thrips. One of the obvious conclusions that the authors reach from their results is that sampling more sequences from broader populations and different species of genus Scirtothrips (which inspired the figure above, having "an ambiguous phylogenetic position in this study") would help to better establish the position of the clade in relation to other groups. Curiously enough, a much larger sampling of genus Scirtothrips already exists (Rugman-Jones et al, 2006), but it focused on sequencing samples for ITS1 and 2, and not COI or EF-1a. Furthermore, the Rugman-Jones et al laboratory were using RFLP to establish a standardized amplification protocol, and had not yet attempted to construct the inevitable phylogeny that is sure to follow for the group. I am uncertain as to whether species of genus Thrips or Frankliniella have already been sequenced at these alleles, but given their economic importance, it would not surprise me and those observations should be compared to the work that is sure to come from the Rugman-Jones lab.

Moreover, these experiments show precisely why taxonomy and phylogenetics remain critical tools relevant to modern management programs. As both teams of authors clearly demonstrate, phylogenetics can be turned to tasks beyond what some critics have derided as "merely academic interest in the evolutionary history of a group". The primary aim of Inoue and Sakurai's research was to compare the evolutionary phylogeny of the pests to their competence as a vector for several different strains of Tospovirus (Bunyaviridae). Determining the evolutionary relationships between the groups should allow one to predict the suitability of other species within that group as potential vectors for various strains, and perhaps provide a better explanation as to how the Tospovirus made its evolutionary leap from a virus that infected insect-tissue to one that could also invade a plant. The primary goal of the Rugman-Jones project was to provide a quick and dirty molecular solution to the occasionally painful task of taxonomic identification and its reliance on a few trained specialists sometimes using highly variable morphological characters.

The USDA has already launched a similar project, using phylogenetic information to document family relationships and the associated pesticide resistance profiles for several reproductively incompatible demes of whitefly. They are alleged to be in the nascent stages of a thrips-based project which hopes to resolve and establish the missing characters for these groups so that a true phylogenetic comparison can be established...

REFERENCES

• Inoue, T and Sakurai, T (2007). "The phylogeny of thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) based on partial sequences of cytochrome oxidase I, 28S ribosomal DNA and elongation factor-1a and the association with vector competence of tospoviruses." Applied Entomological Zoology 42(1): 71 - 81.
• Rugman-Jones, PF; Hoddle, MS; Mound, LA; Stouthammer, R (2006). "Molecular Identification Key for Pest Species of Scirtothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae)." Journal of Economic Entomology 99(5): 1813.