We study the evolution and development of butterfly wing patterns.

We are particularly interested in the developmental genetic basis of variation in natural populations and how natural selection drives the evolution of pattern formation.

Feb 21, 2012. Susan's paper on Heliconius roosting accepted to Proceedings of the Royal Society!
Jan 9, 2012. Emily's paper on Junonia polyphenism accepted to Ecological Entomology!
Nov 14, 2011. Heather's paper on optix phylogenies is published online in PNAS!
Nov 14, 2011. Susan wins first place in the Entomological Society of America's annual student talk competition!
Oct 17, 2011. Heather Hine's paper on optix allele phylogenies accepted to PNAS!
Sept 2, 2011. Seth Bybee's paper on wing pigment signal evolution accepted to American Naturalist!
Aug 25, 2011. Read Sean Carroll's Science Perspective on our optix paper!
July 21, 2011. Our new paper on the optix gene is published online in Science!
June 28, 2011. Congratulations to graduate student James Lewis for winning an NIH Systems Biology Training Grant!
April 5, 2011. Congratulations to graduate student Susan Finkbeiner for winning an NSF Predoctoral Fellowship!
February 3, 2011. We won a three year NSF grant to study Heliconius color pattern genes!

In Science: The optix gene drives color pattern mimicry in Heliconius butterflies. [LINK]
In PNAS: Co-evolution of butterfly vision and wing pigments. [LINK]
In MBE: Duplication and divergence of al2 gene underlies the evolution and development of stripe color patterns. [LINK]