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My long-term research interest is the evolution of biotic diversity. I use molecular genetic techniques, morphological methods, and robust phylogenetic frameworks to identify and describe natural groups of marine and terrestrial arthropods, to study their diversification and patterns of distribution, and to elucidate the ecological roles and the importance of key innovations that have significantly affected their evolutionary histories. I am especially interested in the evolution of symbiotic lifestyles and investigating how major biotic, climatic, and tectonic events may have influenced the timing and patterns of diversification. Much of my current research is on the carabid beetle subfamily Paussinae, many species of which are obligate symbionts with ants. Other ongoing studies explore the evolution of adephagan beetles and bombardier beetles. Read more about my specific research projects here.

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Research Opportunities
  • Undergrad Research Opportunity Paid, Volunteer, For Credit

    Grant: CSBR: Natural History: Facilitating Collections-Based Research on Insect Pollinators of the Sonoran Desert Region

    We have opportunities to hire undergraduates to work as part of curatorial teams for the next two ye...
Courses
  • IB
    Insect Biology

  • MIS
    Methods in Insect Science

  • IS
    Insect Systematics

  • REE
    Research in Ecology and Evolution

  • SSEETA
    Secrets of Success: Evolutionary Ecology of Terrestrial Arthropods

Grants
  • Funding agency logo
    CSBR: Natural History: Facilitating Collections-Based Research on Insect Pollinators of the Sonoran Desert Region

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2023

    $240.6K
    Active
    Opportunity
  • Funding agency logo
    Molecular Phylogeny of Brachinine Bombardier Beetles Utilizing Ultraconserved Elements

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2022

    $5.0K
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    Diagnostic Resources for Pests and Beneficial Insects on Specialty Crops

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2021

    $40.5K
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    We Bee Scientists

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2021

    $33.0K
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    Enhancing Introductory Biology with the Arizona Insect DNA Barcoding Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2019

    $66.3K
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    Assessing the Potential of Bombardier Beetles Brachinus (Carabidae) as Bioindicators of Riparian Arthropod Community Health: An Ecological and Evolutionary Study

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2020

    $2.8K
  • Funding agency logo
    Collaborative Research: The Genetic Basis, Biosynthetic Pathways and Evolution of Chemical Defense in Carabid Beetles

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2016

    $309.1K
  • Funding agency logo
    Explosive Radiation, Extreme Phenotypic Diversity, and the Evolution or Morphotypes within Ant Nest Beetles

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2013

    $532.9K
  • Funding agency logo
    CSBR: Natural History Collections: Critical Renovation and Revitalization of the University of Arizona Insect Collection

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2012

    $468.1K
  • Funding agency logo
    Digitization TCN: CR: Southwest Collections of Arthropods Network (SCAN): A model for Collections Digitization to Promote Taxonomic and Ecological

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2012

    $333.5K
Books
  • Invertebrates

    2016

News
  • Bee Afraid ... 'Murder Hornets' are Here

    2020

  • The Desert is Abuzz with Bees

    2019

  • 'Insecta' Explores Insects and the People Who Study Them

    2017

  • Meet the Beetle That Packs a Machine Gun

    2015

  • Live Bugs Tell of a Bug's Life at Insect Festival

    2014

  • How Beetles Hack Into Ant Colonies

    2014

  • UA Insect Collection Renovation Continues as Annual Festival Nears

    2013

  • Rain Gods in a Desert Sea: New Book Celebrates Southern Arizona's Mountains

    2013

  • Warming Climate Pushes Plants Up the Mountain

    2013

  • A Bug’s Afterlife: Revitalizing the UA Insect Collection

    2012

  • Glow-in-the-Dark Millipede Says 'Stay Away'

    2011

  • Bugs on the UA Mall

    2011

  • Scientists, Public Team Up to Discover Biodiversity

    2011

  • Grants Support Junior Faculty, Community Outreach Projects

    2011

  • Meet the Beetles

    2010

Publications (46)
Recent
  • Molecular phylogeny and revision of species groups of Nearctic bombardier beetles (Carabidae: Brachininae: Brachinus).

    2022

  • Molecular Phylogeny of Lichen Tiger Moths (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini): a contribution toward classifying the Western Hemisphere genera

    2021

  • Phylogeny of the supertribe Nebriitae (Coleoptera: Carabidae) based on analyses of DNA sequence data

    2021

  • Memories of Terry Erwin. In: Spence J, Casale A, Assmann T, Liebherr JК, Penev L (Eds) Systematic Zoology and Biodiversity Science: A tribute to Terry Erwin (1940-2020)

    2021

  • Cryptic enemies of the economically- and culturally-important scale insect, cochineal (Hemiptera: Dactylopiidae)

    2021

  • Impacts of Pleistocene climate oscillations on the phylogeography of Synuchus dubius (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in the U.S. Southwest.

    2021

  • Biosynthetic origin of benzoquinones in the explosive discharge of the bombardier beetle Brachinus elongatulus

    2020

  • Out of the burrow and into the nest: functional anatomy of three life history stages of Ozaena lemoulti (Coleoptera: Carabidae) reveals an obligate life with ants.

    2019

  • Impacts of 21st century climate change on montane habitat in the Madrean Sky Island Archipelago.

    2019

  • Morpho-functional analysis of the explosive defensive system of basal bombardier beetles (Carabidae: Paussinae: Metriini)

    2019

  • A new species of Hypoprepia from the mountains of central Arizona (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Lithosiini)

    2018

  • Monophyly of the subfamily Neobisiinae (Pseudoscorpiones: Neobisiidae)

    2018

  • Bacterial Associates of a Gregarious Riparian Beetle With Explosive Defensive Chemistry

    2018

  • Molecular phylogeny, ecology and multispecies aggregation behaviour of bombardier beetles in Arizona

    2018

  • Dissecting the species groups of Paussus L. (Carabidae: Paussinae): unraveling morphological convergence associated with myrmecophilous life histories.

    2016

  • Up high and down low: Molecular systematics and insight into the diversification of the ground beetle genus Rhadine LeConte

    2016

  • Mechanistic origins of the bombardier beetle (Brachinini) explosive pulsed chemical defense.

    2015

  • Discovery of a glowing millipede in California and the gradual evolution of bioluminescence in Diplopoda.

    2015

  • Highly evolvable vectors: the genomes of 16 Anopheles mosquitoes.

    2015

  • Ground-Dwelling Arthropod Communities of a Sky Island Mountain Range in Southeastern Arizona, USA: Obtaining a Baseline for Assessing the Effects of Climate Change.

    2015

  • Explosive Adaptive Radiation and Extreme Phenotypic Diversity within Ant-Nest Beetles

    2014

  • Form, function and evolutionary significance of stridulatory organs in ant nest beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Paussini).

    2014

  • Dramatic Response to Climate Change in the Southwest: Robert Whittaker's 1963 Arizona Mountain Plant Transect Revisited.

    2013

  • Introduction to the Arizona Sky Island Arthropod Project (ASAP): systematics, biogeography, ecology and population genetics of arthropods of the Madrean Sky Islands

    2013

  • Dramatic response to climate change in the Southwest: Robert Whittaker's 1963 Arizona Mountain plant transect revisited

    2013

  • Insulin-like Peptides: Structure, Signaling, and Function

    2012

  • Behavior of Paussus favieri (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Paussini), a myrmecophilous beetle associated with Pheidole pallidula (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

    2012

  • The larva of Eustra (Coleoptera, Paussinae, Ozaenini): A facultative associate of ants

    2011

  • The putative AKH receptor of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, and its expression

    2011

  • The putative AKH receptor of Manduca sexta and its expression in fat body during development

    2011

  • Identification Tool to the Pink Bollworm and its Look-Alikes

    2011

  • Insulin-Like Peptides: Structure, Signaling and Function

    2011

  • The long-awaited first instar larva of Paussus favieri (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Paussini)

    2011

  • Biology needs cyberinfrastructure to facilitate specimen-level data acquisition for insects and other hyperdiverse groups

    2011

  • Bioluminescent aposematism in millipedes

    2011

  • First Arizona records of the multicolored asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

    2010

  • The first known larva of the Australian genus Mystropomus Chaudoir (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Paussinae)

    2009

  • Monophyly of terrestrial adephagan beetles as indicated by three nuclear genes (Coleoptera: Carabidae and Trachypachidae)

    2009

  • Phylogeny of the Western Hemisphere Ozaenini (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Paussinae) based on DNA sequence data

    2008

  • Metrius Eschscholtz (Carabidae: Paussinae) is not a millipede specialist

    2008

  • Taxonomic review of the Neotropical genus Moriosomus Motschulsky (Insecta: Coleoptera, Carabidae, Morionini) with notes on the way of life of the species

    2007

  • DNA extraction from dry museum beetles without conferring external morphological damage

    2007

  • Description and behaviour of Goniotropis kuntzeni larvae (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Paussinae: Ozaenini) and a key to genera of Paussinae larvae

    2006

  • The first-instar larva of the genus Arthropterus (Coleoptera:Carabidae: Paussinae): Implications for evolution of myrmecophily and phylogenetic relationships within the subfamily

    2004

  • Description of a new Synidotea species (Crustacea: Isopoda: Valvifera: Idoteidae) from Hawaii

    2004

  • A monograph on the isopod genus Colopisthus (Crustacea: Isopoda: Cirolanidae) with the description of a new genus

    2003

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