Christiane Weirauch

Wei Song and his first introduction to cricket!

Visiting from:

University of California

Department of Entomology

Working with: Mick Webb, Curator Hemiptera and Laurence Livermore; and Christiane's PhD student Wei-Song Hwang

Arrived at the Museum: 8th September 2012

Leaving date: 23rd September 2012

Whilst at the Museum Christiane and Wei Song photographed hundreds of Reduvid type specimens, here is one of them!

Ulpius bicolor Distant, 1879 Holotype

Research interests:

Christiane's research interests encompass morphological and molecular systematics of Heteroptera with an emphasis on assassin bugs (Reduviidae) and plant bugs (Miridae); Evolutionary biology and biological control.

Under the PEET project, Wei Song's PhD research encompasses 1) the first steps towards the resolution of the polyphyletic Reduviinae, 2) testing the monophyly of the blood-feeding Triatominae,  3) establishing the genus-level phylogeny of Physoderinae based on morphology and 4) conducting a taxonomic revision of the Indo-Pacific Physoderes

Relevant webpages:

Heteroptera systematics lab at UCR

http://www.heteroptera.ucr.edu/

http://facultydirectory.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/pub/public_individual.pl?faculty=3025

http://hymenoptera.ucr.edu/christiane-weirauch

Relevant publications:

Hwang, WS. & Weirauch, C. 2012. Evolutionary History of Assassin Bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Reduviidae): Insights from Divergence Dating and Ancestral State Reconstruction. PLOS ONE.  7: 9  Article Number: e45523  

Forthman, M. & Weirauch, C. 2012. Toxic associations: A review of the predatory behaviors of millipede assassin bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Ectrichodiinae). European Journal of Entomology. Volume: 109. 2:147-153

Schuh, R. T., Weirauch, C. and Wheeler, W. C. 2009. Cimicomorphan relationships (Insecta: Heteroptera): combining morphological and DNA sequence data (Insecta: Heteroptera). Systematic Entomology 34: 15-34.

Schuh, R. T., Weirauch, C., Henry, T. J., and Halbert, S. 2008. Curaliidae, a new family of Heteroptera from the Eastern United States (Insecta). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 101: 20-29.

Weirauch, C. 2008a. Cladistic analysis of Reduviidae (Heteroptera: Cimicomorpha) based on morphological characters. Systematic Entomology 33: 229-274.