Research
As Curator of Entomology, PI St Laurent's work is highly collections-oriented. Natural history collections contain vast untapped resources that can be used to understand global biodiversity, responses to environmental change, evolution, and so much more. In the era of "museomics" in particular, we are only just beginning to understand the potential for using museum specimens in genomic work. And on that front we have been especially active in the use of phylogenomics to uncover previously unexplored evolutionary relationships of moths. The St Laurent Lab works in the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Museum of Natural History insect collection and through an established collaborative network of global collections throughout Europe, North, Central, and South America to broadly sample global moth biodiversity.
PI St Laurent specializes in the study of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and is currently working on a number of groups including Noctuoidea, Bombycoidea, and Mimallonoidea -- but also has long-term collaborations with researchers studying Papilionoidea (butterflies) and other groups of moths.
Please visit the Entomology section's page via the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Museum of Natural History to learn more about the exciting resources that our museum has to offer and feel free to contact Ryan for inquires concerning research in the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Museum of Natural History entomology collections.
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Some of our current projects
Revised classification of global Prominent Moths (Notodontidae)
- Most diverse of the "trifid" families of Noctuoidea, historically lacking a robust classification. Now thanks to full genome sequencing and anchored hybrid enrichment target capture, we have now sequenced members of all major lineages of these moths resulting a completely redefined subfamilial classification.
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Cerurinae of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥
- ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ is home to the highest number of Cerurinae moths in North America thanks to its diverse range of elevations and habitats. These moths specialize on Salicaceae (willows, aspens, cottonwoods), quintessential plants in the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ landscape. Many species found here are poorly known, with completely unstudied life histories and at least one thought to be endemic to the state. We will be sampling these moths from across ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ to better understand their distribution, population dynamics, and life histories -- eventually to contextualize the local populations in a global study of these moths.
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