Using collection-based studies, DNA sequencing data and morphology, entomology researchers seek to understand insect diversity, biology and evolutionary history. Current entomology research centers on the aquatic insect superfamily Hydrophiloidea, chrysomelid leaf beetles, fossil insects and the superfamily Apoidea (bees). To learn more about Entomology's research, please explore the research pages of our curators. Or, if you would like to browse our expeditions, click here.

Michael Engel

Michael Engel, senior curator, focuses on the fossil record of insects and what it reveals about the past and present. Research in paleoentomology is concerned with all aspects of insect evolutionary history ranging from the Devonian to the Pleistocene and encompassing all insect orders, with an aim toward providing a natural synthesis between paleoentomology and neoentomology.

Caroline Chaboo

Curator Caroline Chaboo studies the biology, behavior and systematics of chrysomelid leaf beetles. She is looking at small groups, collecting and incorporating data from beetle life history, host plant choices, and insect defenses in an effort to refine evolutionary relationships, improve current classification schemes and examine the evolution of various features.

Andrew Short

The research program of Curator Andrew Short centers on elucidating the diversity, biology, and evolutionary history of aquatic beetles, an aggregate group of ca. 20 families with more than 11,000 described species. Short concentrates on the superfamily Hydrophiloidea (‘water scavenger’ beetles), one of the few lineages of insects to have diversified in both aquatic and terrestrial environments.