Guanyang Zhang

Email: gzhan001(at)ucr.edu

My aspiration is to document and understand the diversity of life on the Earth. I have long been fascinated about nature and particularly, the world of insects. Childhood close encounters with ants, mantis, grasshoppers, crickets and etc. were primers to my interest in biology. Thanks to Dr. Rudolf Meier, college education in Singapore opened the world of biological systematics to me, and I realized that is what I want to do.

Biological systematics stands out as a distinct subject because it deals with variations and diversity of organisms. Although general rules and patterns are explored too, they all root in the diversity of life. The distinction is better contrasted with other sciences seeking laws and principles such as physics and chemistry. To systematists, diversity is beauty. The great diversity of life brings us amazement, we marvel at it, and yet it also gives us a big time headache – the sheer amount is just overwhelming.   

Current project: Species delimitation of Peiratinae (Heteroptera: Reduviidae) from Madagascar using both morphology and molecules 

In this project, I am revising three genera based on recent collections of reduviids from Madagascar by the California Academy of Sciences. These three genera are mostly likely to be the same genus and some could be the same species. The males have fully developed wings and females have only partially developed ones, which was the reason that the original author placed them in different genera. I am trying to use DNA to match these sexually dimorphic males and females, and also associate immature specimens with adults. It is not easy or reliable to use morphology for such tasks. The outcome of the project would be exemplary for identifying heteropteran bugs with extreme sexual dimorphism and morphologically identifiable nymphal stages.

My Ph.D project will be focusing on a revision of Zelus Fabricius, 1803 and a genus-level phylogeny of Harpactorini

Curriculum Vitae

PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION

09/2007-present, University of California, Riverside. Doctoral Graduate Student in Entomology.

07/2007 National University of Singapore, Singapore. Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences (Concentration in Biology).

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

09-12/2007 Teaching Assistant for General Entomology, University of California, Riverside.

09-10/2003 Tutor, Preparation Courses for the Biology Olympiad, National Junior College, Singapore.

PUBLICATIONS 

Zhang, G.. 2009. Specimens versus sequences, Science 323 (5922): 1672 (Letter to the Editor).

Meier, R., and Zhang, G. DNA barcoding and DNA taxonomy: An assessment based on 4261 COI sequences for 1001 species in Diptera Diversity: Status, Challenges and Tools edited by Pape, T., Bickel, D., R. Meier. Brill Academic Publishers, 2009.

Meier, R., Zhang, G., and Ali, F., 2008, The use of mean instead of smallest interspecific distances exaggerates the size of the “barcoding gap” and leads to misidentification, Systematic Biology 57 (5): 809-813.

Zhang, G., and C. Weirauch. A systematic revision and cladistic analysis of Malagasy assassin bugs in the subfamily Peiratinae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). In prep. Target journal: Systematic Entomology.

AWARDS & HONORS

06/2009-06/2010 Robert van den Bosch Scholarship in Biological Control (for the category systematics of natural enemies). $5,000.

02-04/2010 Smithsonian Graduate Student Fellow, Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Programs. $6,000. 10-week research on comparative functional morphology of Harpactorini.

11/2008 UC Riverside Graduate Student Association Conference Travel Grant. $300.

11/2008 UC Riverside Entomology Graduate Student Association Travel Grant. $100.

09/2008. Best PhD Oral Presentation, Student Seminar Day, Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside. $75.

06/2008-04/2009 California Desert Research Fund at the Community Foundation. Survey of Kissing Bugs within the Inland Empire. Co-awarded to Wei Song Hwang. $2,883.

CONFERENCES & PRESENTATIONS

02/2009 Heteroptera Synthesis Meeting, Riverside (sponsored by the Biodiversity Synthesis Center, Field Museum, Chicago & ‘Encyclopedia of Life’): Phylogenetic Analytical Methods: An Overview

11/2008 Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting: Malagasy assassin bugs (Heteroptera: Reduviidae): Association of dimorphic sexes and immature specimens with adults, synonymy of two genera & descriptions of four new species

 

FIELD EXPERIENCE

Collection trips (2006-2009): Arizona, California, Malaysia and Mexico 

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