NSF-funded "Partnerships for Enhancing the Expertise in Taxonomy" grant 2009-2016. Check out our publications for products of this grant.
Five NSF-funded REU (Research Experience for Undergraduate students) projects were associated with the Reduviid PEET.
REU summer 2013
Undergraduate students Sarah Frankenberg and Amy Michael were expanding systematic research on the reduviid subfamily Phymatinae, the ambush bugs, from a previous focus on California to include all of North America. Their goals were to work towards delimiting species concepts of Nearctic Phymata based on 1) the examination of museum specimens, and 2) preliminary molecular analyses. Sarah and Amy are currently examining ~1,000 specimens from the W. F. Barr Entomology Museum at the University of Idaho and the San Diego Natural History Museum, and additional collections will be examined throughout the summer and fall. Local field work will allow us to obtain additional DNA-quality specimens, hopefully including the rarely collected species Phymata vicina and Phymata salicis.
Publications resulting from this and subsequent studies: Phylogeny of ambush bugs, species delimitation within the erosa group, and revision of the erosa group.
REU summer 2012
Impressions from the ongoing project that focuses on California Reduviidae and included a collecting trip to Los Angeles National Forest, where we found the rarely collected ambush bug Phymata arctostaphylae (top row), and one museum trip to the San Diego Natural History Museum (bottom row).
REU summer 2011
Steven Crum (senior undergraduate, UCR, graduated spring 2012). Steven participated in the PEET project as REU student. He was responsible for organizing, curating and databasing Malagasy Reduviidae on loan from the Californian Academy of Sciences. He also imaged representatives of each species, analyzed distribution patterns across the island, and evaluated species endemism and abundance. He presented these data as a poster during Student Seminar Day 2011 and won the prize for best undergraduate poster. Cole Watson (graduated in spring 2011 from UCR). Cole assisted in generating images of habitus and morphological details for a well-illustrated, badly needed identification key to the subfamilies of Reduviidae that we plan to submit to the “Canadian Journal for Arthropod Identification”.
REU summer 2010
Claudia Alvarez (senior undergraduate, UCR; graduated winter 2010). Claudia videotaped and analyzed predatory and reproductive behaviors of Zelus renardii and Zelus tetracanthus. She presented her data as a poster during Student Seminar Day 2010 and her results have been incorporated into a manuscript that is now published [Weirauch, C., Alvarez, C., and Zhang, G. Zelus renardii and Z. tetracanthus (Hemiptera: Reduviidae): biological attributes and the potential for dispersal in two assassin bugs]. Brittany Smith (senior undergraduate, UCR; graduated summer 2010). Brittany focused on a literature review of kissing bugs in Southern California and on detecting by PCR Trypanosoma cruzi infections in suboptimally preserved Triatominae. She presented her results as a poster at Student Seminar Day 2010, where she won (together with P. Wong) the prize for the best undergraduate poster. The results of her research were published in the journal Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. Percy Wong (senior undergraduate, UCR; graduated summer 2010). Percy developed ecological niche models for California kissing bugs. His results were presented in part as a poster at Student Seminar Day 2010.