Tuesday, May 19th

Special Online Zoom Meeting

07:30 PM

Swallowtails: A kaleidoscope of natural and laboratory hybrids

Tianzhu Xiong

CEC President

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

Closely related species are prone to hybridization. The effect of natural hybrids on the evolutionary trajectory of parental species is manifold. On the other hand, laboratory hybrids are useful genetic techniques to study the divergence between incipient species. Historically, swallowtail butterflies are among the best studied insects in terms of both natural and lab hybrids, and are continuing to present challenging problems in insect speciation. In this talk, Tianzhu will present his recent study on the hybridization within the Asian peacock swallowtails. Specifically, 1) natural hybrids: the debatable relationship between Papilio syfanius and Papilio maackii near a zone of environmental shift; 2) laboratory hybrids: genetic incompatibilities within the Papilio bianor species complex.

Tianzhu Xiong is a 4th year graduate student from the Mallet Lab at Harvard Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and is the current president of the Cambridge Entomological Club. His research interests are theoretical population genetics and divergence in swallowtail butterflies from the oriental region.

In compliance with the COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, we are temporarily suspending all physical meetings and pre-talk dinner until further notice.

CEC meetings are normally held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (5:45 to 7:15 PM) followed by our formal meeting (7:30 – 9:00 PM). The latter begins with club business and is followed by a 60-minute entomology related presentation. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists.