Entomology Student Grant

From Matthew Van Dam, graduate student at UC Berkeley: 

My research focuses on comparative phylogeography of dune-restricted insects in the desert southwest. Comparative phylogeography looks for concordance between species genealogies and historical geographic events. I hope to explain how dune insects' distributions formed in seemingly isolated island environments. 

I am currently studying the relationships of three different groups of insects: Giant flower-loving flies, sand dune weevils and sand treader crickets. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is unique in that it has several species of Rhaphiomidas (Giant flower-loving flies) and Trigonoscuta (dune weevils). This enables me to observe the interactions between different species of flies and is an excellent source of weevils for phylogeographic study.  

                                                   Matthew Van Dam

Giant flower-loving fly, Rhaphiomidas nigricaudis