Insect Systematics, Evolution and Biogeography
Research Overview
The lab conducts research on the evolution, diversity and biogeography of scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) and non-biting midges (Diptera: Chironomidae).
The Coccoidea (>7,000 spp.) are ubiquitous, sedentary, sap-sucking plant parasites, closely related to aphids. Some species are extremely dangerous agricultural pests. Others are cultivated for dyes (e.g. cochineal scales) or lacquer (e.g. lac scales), or for use in biological control of invasive plants. Scale insects are characterized by unusual development and sexual systems. For example, the adult female of all scale insects is paedomorphic (resembling the immature stages) and, in many scale insect species, sex-determination of males is effected by the elimination of the paternal genome.
The Chironomidae (>10,000 spp.) are the geographically most widely-distributed group of holometabolous insects (those having the life stages: egg; larva; pupa; adult). Species are known from the tropics to the arctic and antarctic, and from elevations up to 5600m in the Himalayas to depths of 1000m beneath the surface of Lake Baikal. Likewise, their physiological tolerance is superlative, with species able to tolerate extremes of temperature, pH, and salinity. Species dominate aquatic habits and are unavoidably encountered by freshwater ecologists.
Contact Information: 1282 Academic Surge | Lab Phone/Fax: (530) 754-5804 | P.J. Gullan Phone: (530) 754-5805 | P.S.
Cranston Phone: (530) 754-5803 | mailing address: Gullan & Cranston Lab, Department of
Entomology, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616-8584, USA
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last updated: 14 November 2007