Hunter laboratory at the University of Arizona
Encarsia females with whitefly nymphs. Photo credit Alex Wild
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Leptoglossus zonatus. Photo credit Al Reina
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Welcome
In the Hunter laboratory, we study the ecology and evolution of interactions between microbial symbionts and their insect hosts. We are currently studying the mechanisms of reproductive manipulation of Encarsia parasitoids by the symbiont Cardinium, and the transmission and fitness consequences of the environmentally-acquired Burkholderia on the leaf-footed bug Leptoglossus zonatus. We have recently concluded more than a decade of study on the population ecology of the symbiont Rickettsia in the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci.
In the Hunter laboratory, we study the ecology and evolution of interactions between microbial symbionts and their insect hosts. We are currently studying the mechanisms of reproductive manipulation of Encarsia parasitoids by the symbiont Cardinium, and the transmission and fitness consequences of the environmentally-acquired Burkholderia on the leaf-footed bug Leptoglossus zonatus. We have recently concluded more than a decade of study on the population ecology of the symbiont Rickettsia in the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci.
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Molly Hunter is also the Chair of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Entomology & Insect Science. If you are interested in graduate study in the Hunter laboratory, contact Molly Hunter (see contact page), and check out what the EIS graduate program has to offer. Click on the beetle icon on the left to take you to the GIDP-EIS home page where you can find out more about the program.
And reaching a bit further back (it's been a while since I've updated!) Matt Doremus, Edwin Umanzor, Liam Sullivan and Molly went to the Entomological Society of America meetings in Denver and November. Matt won first prize in his oral session and Liam won second!
And more recently, two papers were published - the first (Hunter et al. AEM '22) on Leptoglossus-Burkholderia system, and the second (Doremus et al. Heredity '22) on disentangling two Cardinium strain effects and examining localization of a CI symbiont in Encarsia partenopea (see Publications) |
Lab News
Spring 2022. PhD student Edwin Umanzor was a mentor for STAR Lab high school student Isabelle Lopez in a research experience this fall. We recently learned that Isabelle received first prize in the Animal Sciences category (for the rather small animals - leaf footed bugs) at SARSEF - the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair. Congratulations Isabelle and Edwin! 
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