From Developmental Signals to Butterfly Wing Diversity

My research group examines how developmental systems generate morphological diversity and the mechanisms underlying its evolution. We work with butterflies and moths, which provide a rich comparative system for testing how changes in genomic regulation and gene regulatory networks underlie the evolutionary diversification of traits such as wing color patterns and wing shapes. We aim to pinpoint the genetic and developmental mechanisms that organize the wing as an organ at multiple levels, from the establishment of positional information to the growth and remodeling that shape the wing, and the specification of cell identities that produce structural and pigmentary coloration. Finally, we connect these genetic and developmental mechanisms to ecological function by investigating how complex wing phenotypes contribute to defense and mate choice.