Welcome!

Welcome to the Insect Systematics & Evolution laboratory of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM). Our lab started at UPRM in 2006. Current research activities include a range of practical and conceptual themes, with a primary focus on the systematics, evolution, and natural history of weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) in the Caribbean and greater Neotropical region. Additional interests include the systematics and natural history of Puerto Rican beetles, in particular herbivorous taxa such as the Phytophaga and their host plant associations. Puerto Rico, although moderate in its biodiversity, still holds many interesting discoveries in the insect world, and to a degree these hidden treasures dictate our research program.

In April 2007 we received a grant from the National Science Foundation (DEB-0641231) to study the systematics of Caribbean broad-nosed weevils in the Exophthalmus genus complex (Curculionidae: Entiminae; see abstract here).

This webpage contains information on lab members, courses offered, a call for prospective students, and links to PDFs of our publications including CURCULIO - an international newsletter for weevil research. For further inquiries please contact us directly.

 

UPRM insect collection

UPRM's campus houses the second largest insect collection on the island (click here for the larger MEBT-MC collection), with approximately 135,000 specimens. The collection was initiated by the renown ornithologist and natural historian Stuart Danforth in the 1920s. Subsequent major contributors include José Ramos and Genaro Maldonado Capriles (Hemiptera), Stuart Ramos (Lepidoptera), and José Mari Mutt (Collembola). After several years of relative inactivity, the collection is now being inventoried and improved in numerous regards. In March 2008 we received an award from the National Science Foundation - Biogical Research Collections program (DEB-0749434) to significantly upgrade the collection infrastructure (see proposal summary here). Follow our project blog. Contact us for inquiries about specimen loans and other collection-related issues.

Photo of main collection room of the Ramos collection at UPRM, housed in the Entomology Laboratory, with ca. 76,000 specimens of mainly auchenorhynchous Hemiptera from the New World (J. Ramos) and ca. 6,000 specimens of primarily Puerto Rican butterflies (S. Ramos).