In this dissertation, I investigate the evolution and genomes of carabid beetles, a worldwide family of over 38,000 species. I focus on two species-rich groups, the tribes Chlaeniini and Bembidiini, both of which are primarily found on the shores of bodies of water. The former are distinctive for their defensive...
In this dissertation, I present the results from three studies: (1) a phylogeny of Tenebrionoidea (Coleoptera) inferred from a seven-gene dataset derived from PCR and Sanger sequencing; (2) a phylogeny of Tenebrionidae, the largest family in Tenebrionoidea, inferred from a four-gene dataset also derived from PCR and Sanger sequencing; (3)...
Here the diversity and phylogeny of the genus, Sthereus Motschulsky, 1845, and its nearest associates in the large subfamily Molytinae are explored through molecular and morphological characters. Sanger sequencing of five genes determined that Sthereus is not monophyletic. Instead, the one species in the genus Gastrotaphrus Buchanan 1936, G. barberi...
Species are one of the foundational units upon which entire fields of scientific inquiry are built. Discovering and documenting the planet’s biodiversity remains one of the grand challenges of science. A proper conceptualization of species provides a critical framework for diverse fields such as biophysics, biochemistry, agriculture and pharmacology, and...
Biologists have long been fascinated with reproductive traits, in part because they are frequently exaggerated or showy, and they commonly vary among closely related species. Exaggerated sexual traits, in particular, have been the focus of intense empirical and theoretical research, but most of this work has focused on traits involved...