Small Orders, Big Ideas (Polyneoptera)

Organizer(s)

• 

  Derek Woller

  Entomologist
  USDA-APHIS-PPQ-S&T-IMMDL (Phoenix Station) Rangeland Unit
  USDA-APHIS
  Nicholasville, Kentucky
• 

  Hojun Song

  Professor
  Department of Entomology
  Texas A&M University
  College Station, Texas
• Cd

  Carla de Loera

  Texas A&M University
  College Station, Texas

Polyneoptera comprise 10 relatively small, but diverse insect orders: Orthoptera, Blattodea (+Isoptera), Dermaptera, Grylloblattodea, Mantodea, Phasmatodea, Mantophasmatodea, Zoraptera, Plecoptera, and Embioptera, some of the most recognizable insects on Earth! Yet they are often overlooked in favor of other insects, especially at entomological meetings, and we’re trying to raise awareness.

Presentations:

• 9:00 AM – 9:15 AM PT

  Calling out for love: Effects of varying sexual selection intensities on reproductive effort
  

  Presenting Author: Jack Mckermitt – Illinois State University
• 9:30 AM – 9:45 AM PT

  Comprehensive phylogeny of stick insects (Insecta: Phasmatodea) reveals hyper-convergence and taxonomic incongruence
  

  Presenting Author: Jackson Linde – Texas A&M University

  Co-Author: Sarah Bank-Aubin – Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach Institute for Zoology & Anthropology – Animal Evolution and Biodiversity

  Co-Author: James A. Robertson – APHIS USDA

  Co-Author: Sven Bradler – Georg-August-Universität

  Co-Author: Michael Whiting – Brigham Young University
• 9:45 AM – 10:00 AM PT

  Dispersal risks and decisions shape how non-kin groups form for a tropical silk-sharing webspinner (Order Embioptera)
  

  Presenting Author: Janice Edgerly-Rooks (she/her/hers) – Santa Clara University