Traci L. Grzymala

Graduate Student

Research Interests

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