The research emphasis of Entomology II is evolutionary and systematic morphology, capitalizing on the methods of phylogenetic statistics and phenomics, which integrates microphotography, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and especially micro-computed tomography (µ-CT).
The objective of evolutionary and systematic morphology in this section is twofold. First, it is to document and analyze the phenotypes of insects through development and across the diversity of extant and extinct lineages to understand the evolution of body systems and life history. Second, it is to capitalize on this knowledge to producing diagnostic keys and taxonomic revisions that may be of use at regional and global scales, whether for living or fossil species or higher taxa. Strong points of this research groups include ants (Formicidae) and Hymenoptera more broadly, and the comparative anatomy of the skeletomuscular system across insects.
