The Laboratory

The laboratory is inhabited by persons conducting population genetic and systematic research on honey bees and other organisms. At the population level, we are especially interested in genetic changes associated with honey bee colonization events, pest introductions and host shifts of phytophagous insects. Various molecular approaches used in the laboratory for honey bee population analysis and intra-specific taxonomy have proven applicable also to population level investigations of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Ceratitis capitata) and Colorado Potato Beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata). Currently, systematic studies are underway within the Apinae, Meliponinae and the homopteran family Cicadellidae based on morphology and mitochondrial/nuclear DNA sequences.

Combs of A.florea, the "dwarf honey bee", for sale along a roadside in Thailand.

Sample collection of the introduced species A. mellifera from a feral colony in Texas.