Dr. Steve Marshall

Professor and Collection Manager

For further information about Steve, look here. 

Contact him at samarsha@uoguelph.ca

All loan requests should be directed to him.

Steve is currently working on various projects in the lab including developing the University of Guelph Insect Collection's computer database and making this information web-accessible. He has been with the lab since 1999, has completed his M.Sc. and has been involved with various insect surveys (Ontario tallgrass prairie, Rondeau Provincial Park, Bruce Peninsula National Park, Point Pelee National Park, Ontario dune systems). He maintains an interest in documenting Ontario's insect fauna with an emphasis on the Orthoptera and Hemiptera

Contact him at spaiero@uoguelph.ca

Adam joined the lab in fall of 2008 through the work-study program. Since completing his undergraduate in the spring of 2008, he has been working in the lab to develop the University of Guelph Insect Collection's computer database along with assisting in general curatorial duties.

Contact him at ajewissg@uoguelph.ca

David Cheung, M.Sc.candidate (C.B. and P.B. )

Dave has been working with us since early 2004 and has quickly become and essential part of the systematics lab due to his enthusiasm and prowess in all aspects of technology and photography. He is currently serving as the technical editor for the Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification.

For more about Dave visit www.dkbdigitaldesigns.com

Current research project: Digital Guide to Landscape and Nursery Arthropod Pests of Ontario

Contact him at dcheung@uoguelph.ca

Morgan has worked in the systematics lab since September 2006. He has worked on digital keys to both Ontario Stratiomyidae and Tephritidae. Watch for these in the future in the Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification. His MSc commenced in September 2007 and will delve into the systematics of stilt-legged flies (Diptera: Micropezidae). Specifically, he intends to revise Taeniaptera and explore the relationships of this genus with Poecilotylus. These taxa may not be monophyletic, so he will be producing a phylogenetic hypothesis based on morphological and molecular data to test this. Morgan will be spending the summer and fall of 2008 in Ottawa working with his co-supervisor Dr. Jeff Skevington on the molecular component of his research at the Diptera Unit – Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes (CNC). In his free time, Morgan enjoys nature photography and road trips, especially when the two are combined!

Contact him at jackson@uoguelph.ca

Adam is the rebel coleopterist of the group (this means he precariously studies beetles amongst fly specialists). He is primarily interested in the ecology and diagnostics of Staphylinidae (rove beetles). His masters will involve two study areas. He is studying how the physical environment drives rove beetle assemblage composition and how this information can be used in an integrated pest management strategy against soybean aphid. He is also developing a digital atlas to the Staphylininae of eastern Canada. This subfamily is prevalent in most ecosystems and contains groups that are very difficult to identify for the non-specialist. This work aims to make this group available to the ecological sciences and biodiversity monitoring etc. You can find Adam in such pleasant locations as carrion, dung, decaying fungi and compost!

Email him at abrunke@uoguelph.ca

Joel is studying the systematics of a group of Neotropical Sphaeroceridae (Diptera), the tribe Archiborborini. These flies, found mostly in highland and southern temperate areas, include a significant number of undescribed species. He is also studying the phylogenetics of the group, including reviewing the generic classification and examining the relationship to the Nearctic/Old World Copromyzini.

Joel is also interested in the bee flies (Bombyliidae). He is working on a key to the species of Eastern Canada, and is identifying and curating the Guelph collection of bombyliids.

Contact him at jkits@uoguelph.ca

Nichelle joined the lab September 2009 after graduating with an undergrad zoology degree from U of G. She is a student of both Dr. Marshall and Dr. Youbin Zheng undertaking a OMAFRA funded project unusual for the systematics lab as her flies are (hopefully) still living. She is working on an experimental project studying the use of saprophagous fly larvae to convert chicken manure into fertilizer. Nichelle hopes to breed colonies of several species of flies to test their effectiveness as waste converters to eventually use at an industrial scale. Nichelle’s research is the entomological side of a larger project by Ivan Milin, president of ecospace engineering (http://www.ecospace-eng.com/index.html).

Contact her at nlomas@uoguelph.ca

Gil Felipe Gonçalves Miranda, Ph.D. candidate

Gil is from Brasil (no pun intended...) and he has worked with Syrphidae (Diptera) since his undergraduate years. He started working on a syrphid survey in a park in the state of Paraná. During the survey, identification of syrphid specimens was shown to be rather problematic. Afterwards, Gil was determined in solving some of the identification problems and delved into systematics hoping to understand more and facilitate species identification in the group.

As a MSc. candidate in the Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), his project involved the problematic genus Ocyptamus trying to sort out the sub-groupings through cladistics. The results led to the the current project for the revision of the tristis species group and a broader cladistic analysis involving it and Ocyptamus.

Gil is also known to often fall prey to the practical jokes in the lab...

Contact him at ggoncalv@uoguelph.ca

Andrew is working with the Syrphidae (Diptera) of North America, a large group of pollinating flies.  He is reviewing the systematics of, as well as publishing a photographic key to, the large genus Platycheirus.  He is also a collaborator on an upcoming photographic key to the genera of North American Syrphidae.  The aim of both of these keys is to make the identification of these beneficial, and often beautiful, flies more accessible to the public. 

Contact him at ayoung01@uoguelph.ca

Danielle has been working in the lab for several years now assisting us in a variety of tasks including sorting, mounting, labelling and odd-jobs around the lab. Her interests lie more in behavioural studies (especially in treehoppers) and is currently working on an undergraduate project with Gard Otis studying ant-treehopper interactions.

From Iran  
Completed his Ph. D here at the Univerisity of Guelph with a revision of Spelobia (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae) and Chetogena Rondani (Diptera: Tachinidae) 

Owen formally began his PhD work on Clusiidae (Diptera) in 2005, but has been working with these beautiful flies since his M.Sc. project at Guelph on the systematics of the genus Sobarocephala (Clusiidae). He worked in the systematics laboratory for some years, and played a major role in the development of our Point Pelee National Park database along with contributing to our numerous survey projects over the years.

Contact him at neoxabea@hotmail.com

Supervised by Ding Yang and Steve Marshall

Hui spent one year at Guelph working on the Pacific genus Biroina (Sphaeroceridae), beginning in October 2007. Hui's excellent and detailed drawings of fly bits and pieces have graced several recent papers on Oriental Diptera, and we look forward to her future works on Pacific limosinines.

Phil completed his M.Sc. studies at Guelph, looking at the biology of a digger wasp (Cerceris fumipennis) that preys on buprestid beetles at its potential use to surveill for Emerald Ash Borer. Since his completion he has continued the research of the potential use of these wasps in "biosurveillence" with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

For more information please contact him at pcareles@uoguelph.ca or visit his website at www.cerceris.info

John studied the Canadian Lonchopteridae (Diptera) as an undergraduate project and went on to study the systematics of the New World Curtonotidae (Diptera) for his Masters here in Guelph.

Matthew finished his Masters work reviewing the world species of Coproica (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae) including a revision of the New World fauna, which are largely unknown. Matthew is also interested in the massive neotropical genus Pterogramma (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae) which he worked on as an undergraduate student.

Contact him at bergeron@uoguelph.ca

Matthias came to the lab in 1998 for a post-doctorate position and we were able to snag him up as our curator from 1999 until 2008. During his stay with us, his research was primarily focused on Diptera systematics, especially of New World Acalyptratae (Sphaeroceroidea, Carnoidea, Diopsoidea, Nerioidea) but was also extremely passionate about documenting the Ontario aculeate fauna (Crabronidae, Sphecidae, Vespidae, Pompilidae, Mutillidae). Since March 2009 he has been the Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Royal Alberta Museum.

To contact him email buckmb@gmail.com