Plant Bugs Research
And now for something completely different: Insects! Specifically plant bugs from Tahiti (“bug” is actually a technical term, for any insect in the order Hemiptera, defined by having semi-hardened forewings and a mouth like a straw).
I was lucky enough to spend an entire year of grad school living on the Tahitian island of Moorea, where my stint teaching fifth-graders (in French!) changed my life. No hyperbole there, that experience led to my decision to focus on teaching rather than research in my academic career.
My dissertation focused on the discovery of 17 new species of plant bugs in the genus Pseudoloxops, which I call flash bugs for their bright green, red, and yellow markings. I published descriptions of these bugs in 2024 in the Entomological Society of America’s journal Insect Systematics and Diversity. To name most of the species, I collaborated with fifth-graders in Moorea to come up with names in Tahitian, since this biodiversity is part of their natural heritage. To honor Harrison Ford’s conservation work and Kamala Harris’ establishment of the American Climate Corps, I also named two species after these public figures.
Beginning in 2024, I am extending my work with schoolkids and flash bugs through the Manumanu Project, in which I will work with new schools to collect and identify insects on their islands to bolster the local science curricula (one-third of my dissertation looked at the efficacy of biodiversity-focused lessons on scientific literacy).