› › Dr. Traci Grzymala

Dr. Traci Grzymala

Former PhD Student
Department:

Research Interests / Specializations

Systematics; Coleoptera; Behavior; Microscopy

Research Description

I am generally interested in Coleopteran systematics, behavior, biogeography, and ecology. I am especially intersted in unique behaviors or morphological characters and their effects on the diversification of beetle groups. I also enjoy scientific illustration and the utilization of different microscopy techniques in insect systematics. My dissertation research focuses on the taxonomy and systematics of the beetle family Aderidae (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea). I will be combining a molecular and morphological approach to perform cladisitic analyses for the group, which will, in turn, be used to test functional hypotheses.

Selected Publications

Grzymala, T.L. and Miller, K.B. (In Prep). Taxonomic Revision and Phylogenetic Analysis of the Genus Elytroleptus Dugés (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Trachyderini). Will submit to Zootaxa.

Grzymala, T.L. and Will, K.W. 2014. Taxonomic review of Cratocerus Dejean, 1829 (Coleoptera: Carabidae) with the description of six new species. ZooKeys 416, 77–112.

Scharf, M.E., C.E. Buckspan, T.L. Grzymala and X. Zhou. 2007. Regulation of polyphonic caste differentiation in the termite Reticulitermes flavipes by interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The Journal of Experimental Biology 210:4390–4398.

Zhou, X., C. Song, T.L. Grzymala, F.M. Oi and M.E. Scharf. 2006. Juvenile hormone and colony conditions differentially influence cytochrome P450 gene expression in the termite Reticulitermes flavipes. Insect Molecular Biology 15(6):749–761.

Honors and Awards

  • 2011 Society of Systematic Biologists Graduate Research Award
  • 2011 Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grant, American Museum of Natural History
  • 2011 National Science Foundation Graduate Teaching Fellowship in GK-12 Education
  • 2011 Sigma Xi Grant, University of California, Berkeley Chapter
  • 2011 Graduate Division Summer Research Grant, UC, Berkeley
  • 2010 Margaret C. Walker Fund for Systematic Entomology, UC, Berkeley
  • 2009 Grove Research Scholarship, University of New Mexico, Department of Biology

Recent Teaching

  • Biology 1B – Ecology, Evolution, & Plant Diversity
  • Biology 201 – Molecular & Cell Biology (University of New Mexico)
  • Biology 485 – Entomology (University of New Mexico)