Collaborating on NSF Award, led by former lab member Duane McKenna

We are pleased to announce that the Farrell Lab is part of an NSF award to study the phylogeny and diversification of Curculionidae (true weevils). Led by Duane McKenna of the University of Memphis, "This project will reconstruct the family tree of Curculionidae and establish a timeframe for weevil diversification by analyzing genomic and morphological (anatomical) data....This project will clarify the interrelationships of all major groups of weevils for the first time. The resulting family trees will be used to test long-standing hypotheses about weevil relationships and evolution, and will contribute to resolving the taxonomic problems that both pervade the internal higher classification of weevils and impede research on economically and ecologically important weevil species.