MEMBERS OF THE GROUP (Active in 2018)
Postdoctoral Researcher Federico A. Agrain
Laboratory Technician Anabela Cardoso
Master Student José M. Herranz Alzueta
Erasmus Undergraduate Student Nefeli Zervou (Visitor)
HIGHLIGHTS OF 2018
This year has been one of transition between two projects of a very different nature. I moved from a species-level epidemiological study trying to link Wolbachia infections with the origins of unisexuality in North American Calligrapha, to a full-fledged phylogenetic study of an entire leaf beetle subfamily, the Eumolpinae, across the world, but with a special focus on the western Pacific. We have wrapped-up the results from the ending project in a number of studies that dissociate Wolbachia from unisexuality and started piling-up data for the Eumolpinae phylogeny, starting in New Zealand.
2018 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Gómez-Zurita, J. 2018. Description of Kumatoeides gen. nov. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Eumolpinae) from New Caledonia. Zootaxa 4521: 89-115.
Gómez-Zurita, J. 2018. Systematic revision of Central American Calligrapha Chevrolat of the subgenus Erythrographa subgen. nov. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Chrysomelinae). Zootaxa 4531: 1-58.
Merckx, J., Van Roie, M., Gómez-Zurita, J. & Dekoninck, W. 2018. From theory to practice: a photographic inventory of museum collections to optimize collection management. Biodiversity Informatics 13: 38-48.
2018 FUNDED PROJECTS
CGL2014-52937-P (Ministry of Economy): Do maternally inherited endosymbionts have a role in the origin and maintenance of unisexuality in Calligrapha (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)?. 1 January 2015 to 30 June 2018. P.I.: Jesús Gómez-Zurita.
CGL2017-83324-P (Ministry of Economy): Molecular phylogeny of the Eumolpinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and study of their evolution in the Western Pacific islands. 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2021.
PRX18/00219 (Salvador de Madariaga Programme 2018, Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports): Stowaways on the Matahorua: analysis of the biogeographic connections of Eumolpinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in the New Zealand region. Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. 2 October 2018- 31 March 2019.
FIGURE CAPTION
Sampling leaf beetles from the vegetation in New Zealand primary forest. Anabela and Jesús inspect the beating tray in Bushy Park (Kai Iwi, Whanganui). These samples hold the key to the relationships and the history of this isolated fauna with surrounding archipelagos.
Photo credit: Catarina Gómez-Zurita