Hunter laboratory at the University of Arizona
Welcome
In the Hunter laboratory, most of our current and recent projects, with a few exceptions, involve trying to better understand the ecology and evolution of interactions between heritable, intracellular microbial symbionts and their insect hosts. We are largely focused on a whitefly-parasitoid system. The whitefly is in the species complex known as the sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, and we have been studying the invasion and effects of Rickettsia in the B species in the USA. The parasitoids are mostly species in the aphelinid genus Encarsia, and we have been studying the role of the reproductive manipulator symbiont Cardinium on Encarsia biology. Recently, we have been trying to understand more about the genetic basis of reproductive manipulation in Cardinium.
Encarsia females with whitefly nymphs. Photo credit Alex Wild
In the Hunter laboratory, most of our current and recent projects, with a few exceptions, involve trying to better understand the ecology and evolution of interactions between heritable, intracellular microbial symbionts and their insect hosts. We are largely focused on a whitefly-parasitoid system. The whitefly is in the species complex known as the sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, and we have been studying the invasion and effects of Rickettsia in the B species in the USA. The parasitoids are mostly species in the aphelinid genus Encarsia, and we have been studying the role of the reproductive manipulator symbiont Cardinium on Encarsia biology. Recently, we have been trying to understand more about the genetic basis of reproductive manipulation in Cardinium.
Encarsia females with whitefly nymphs. Photo credit Alex Wild
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Molly Hunter is also currently the Chair of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Entomology & Insect Science. If you are interested in graduate study in the Hunter laboratory, or more generally want to study insects at the graduate level, click on the beetle to take you to the GIDP-EIS home page where you can find out more about the program.
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Lab News
Corinne and Molly are now back from visiting Stephan Schmitz-Esser and Evelyne Mann at the Veterinary Medicine University in Vienna. |
