Evan P. Economo

​

I am a biologist with broad interests in the ecology and evolution of biodiversity, and how biodiversity intersects with technology and sustainability.  I was born in Montreal and grew up in Virginia and North Carolina before pursuing undergraduate work at the University of Arizona and graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin.  I was a fellow in the Society of Fellows at the University of Michigan from 2009-2012.  Since 2012 I have led the Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit (Arilab) at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. From 2019-2022 I served as Associate Ombudsperson, and from 2023-2024, I was the Dean of Faculty Affairs at OIST.  Recently (September 2024), I have moved to a fulltime position at the University of Maryland, College Park, while remaining an Adjunct Professor at OIST.

Please visit our lab website for more on the projects we are working on in the lab.

CV | Google Scholar | email: economo@oist.jp

EDUCATION

  • 2009  Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin.  Ecology, Evolution, & Behavior.

  • 2002  B.S. University of Arizona. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.

Other Training:

  • 2005  California Academy of Sciences ‘Ant Course.’ Cairns, Australia.

  • 2004  Santa Fe Institute ‘Complex Systems Summer School.’ Qingdao University, China

APPOINTMENTS

University of Maryland, College Park

  • 2024-present   James B. Gahan and Margaret H. Gahan Professor & Department Chair, Department of Entomology

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology

  • 2024-present    Adjunct Professor

  • 2023-2024        Dean of Faculty Affairs

  • 2020-2024        Professor, Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit

  • 2019-2022        Associate Ombudsperson

  • 2012-2020        Assistant Professor, Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit

  • 2011-2012        Visiting Assistant Professor

Harvard University

  • 2021-2022        Mary I. Bunting Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study 

University of Michigan

  • 2012-2017       Visiting Assistant Professor, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

  • 2009-2012      Postdoctoral Fellow - Michigan Society of Fellows, Assistant Professor (non tenure- track), Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

PUBLICATIONS​​

  • Hita Garcia, F., Gomez, K., Keller, R.A., Schurian, B., Economo, E.P. (In Press). There and back again: an updated 3D cyber-taxonomic revision of the ant genus Zasphinctus Wheeler (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Dorylinae) for the Afrotropical region. Zookeys.

  • Gautam, S., McKenzie, S., Katzke, J., Hita Garcia, F., Yamamoto, S., Economo, E.P. (2024) Evolution of odorant receptor repertoires across Hymenoptera is not linked to the evolution of eusociality.  Proceedings of the Royal Society: Series B. 291: 20241280.

  • Opher, M., Loeb, A., Zucker, C., Goodman, A., Konietzka, R., Alves, J., Worden, A., Economo, E.P., Miller, J., Kornbleuth, M., Peek, J. (2024) The passage of the solar system through the edge of the local bubble. The Astrophysical Journal 972(2).

  • Kalarikkal, R.K., Park, H., Georgiadis, C., Guénard, B., Economo, E.P., Kim, Y. (2024) Current and future distribution of the Cataglyphis nodus (Brullé, 1833) in the Middle East and North Africa. Diversity 16(9): 563.

  • Liu, D., Essl, F., Lenzner, B., Moser, D., Semenchuk, P., Blackburn, T.M., Cassey, P., Biancolini, D., Capinha, C., Dawson, W., Dyer, E., Guénard, B., Economo, E.P., Kreft, H., Pergl, J., Pyšek, P., van Kleunen, M., Nentwig, W., Rondinini, C., Seebens, H., Weigelt, P., Winter, M., Purvis, A., Newbold, T., Dullinger, S. (2024) Regional invasion history and land use shape the prevalence of non-native species in local assemblages. Global Change Biology 30(7): e17426.

  • Andrade-Silva, J., Baccaro, F.B., Prado, L.P., Guénard, B., Kass, J.M., Warren, D.L., Economo, E.P., Silva, R.R. (2024) Common ant species dominate morphospace: unraveling the morphological diversity in the Brazilian Amazon Basin. Ecography: e07121.

  • Wang, R., Chaudhary, C., Kass, J.M., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B. (2024) Global biogeographic regions for ants have complex relationships with those for plants and tetrapods. Nature Communications 15: 5641.

  • Frank, E., Buffat, D., Liberti, J., Aibekova, L., Economo, E.P., Keller, L. (2024) Wound-dependent leg amputations to combat infections in an ant society. Current Biology 34(14): 3273–3278.

  • Suzuki, Y., Economo, E.P. (2024) The stability of competitive metacommunities is insensitive to dispersal connectivity in a fluctuating environment. The American Naturalist 203(6): 668-680.

  • Ross, S.R.P.J., Friedman, N.R., Dudley, K.L., Yoshida, T., Yoshimura, M., Economo, E.P., Armitage, D.W., Donohue, I. (2024) Divergent ecological responses to typhoon disturbance revealed via landscape-scale acoustic monitoring. Global Change Biology 30(1): e17067.

  • Frank, E.T., Kesner, L., Liberti, J., Helleu, Q., LeBoeuf, A., Dascalu, A., Milutinovic, B., Azuma, F., Economo, E.P., Waridel, P., Engel, P., Schmitt, T., Keller, L. (2023) Targeted treatment of injured nestmates with antimicrobial compounds in an ant society. Nature Communications 14: 8446.

  • Demetriou, J., Georgiadis, C., Martinou, A.F., Roy, H., Wetterer, J.K., Borowiec, L., Economo, E.P., Triantis, K., Salata, S. (2023) Running rampant: the alien ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Cyprus. Neobiota 88: 17-73.

  • Griebenow, Z., Richter, A., Fischer, G., van de Kamp, T., Economo, E.P., Lieberman, Z. (2023) Comparative morphology of male genital skeletomusculature in the Leptanillinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a standardized muscular terminology for the male genitalia of Hymenoptera. Arthropod Systematics and Phylogeny 81: 945-1018.

  • Kass, J.M., Yoshida, T., Yoshimura, M., Ogasawara, M., Suwabe, M., Hita Garcia, F., Fischer, G. Dudley, K.L., Donohue, I., Economo, E.P. (In Press) Breakdown of ant community seasonal patterns over a land cover gradient.  Proceedings of the Royal Society: Series B. 290: 20231185.

  • Richter, A., Economo, E.P. (In Press) The feeding apparatus of ants: An overview of structure and function. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: B. 378: 20220556.

  • Luo, Y., Taylor, A., Weigelt, P., Guenard, B., Economo, E.P., Nowak, A., Inderjit, Kreft, H. (2023) Climate and ant diversity explain the global distribution of ant-plant mutualisms. Ecography 2023(11): e06841.

  • Toulkeridou, E., Gutierrez, C. E., Baum, D., Doya, K., Economo, E.P. (2023) Automated segmentation of insect anatomy from micro-CT images using deep learning. Natural Sciences 2023: e20230010.

  • Li, Z., Azuma, F., Bachmann, V., Frank, E.., Oliveira-Honorato, T., Parker, D.J., Economo, E.P., Ulrich, Y. (2023) Behavioural individuality determines infection risk in clonal ant colonies. Nature Communications, 14: 5233.  

  • French, C.M., Bertola, L.D., Carnaval, A.C., Economo, E.P., Kass, J.M., Lohman, D.J., Marske, K.A., Meier, R., Overcast, I., Rominger, A.J., Staniczenko, P., Hickerson, M.J. (2023) Global determinants of the distribution of insect genetic diversity. Nature Communications, 14: 5276.

  • Wang, C., Chung, F., Lin, C., Katzke, J., Economo, E.P., Billen, J. (2023) Morphology of the metapleural gland and its associated novel atrial cone gland in Strumigenys ants. Micron, 171: 103463.

  • Nathan, P, Economo, E.P., Guénard, B.P., Simonsen, A., Fredrickson, M.E. (2023) Generalized mutualisms promote range expansion in both plant and ant partners. Proceedings of the Royal Society: Series B, 290: 2006.

  • Liu, D., Essl, F., Lenzner, B., Moser, D., Blackburn, T.M., Cassey, P., Biancolini, D., Capinha, C., Dawson, W., Dyer, E.E., Guénard, B., Economo, E.P., Kreft, H., Pergl, J., Pyšek, P., van Kleunen, M., Nentwig, W., Rondinini, C., Seebens, H., Semenchuk, P., Weigelt, P., Winter, M., Dullinger, S. (2023) The impact of land use on alien species incidence and richness in local assemblages worldwide. Nature Communications, 14: 2090.

  • Wong, M., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B.G. (2023) The global spread and invasion capacities of alien ants. Current Biology, 33(3): 566-571.

  • Liu, C., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B.G. (2023) GABI-I: The global ant biodiversity informatics-island database. Ecology, 104(4): e3969.

  • Richter, A., Boudinot, B., Hita Garcia, F., Billen, J., Economo, E.P., Beutel, R.G. (2023) Wonderfully weird: The head anatomy of the armadillo ant Tatuidris tatuisa (Formicidae: Agroecomyrmecinae). Myrmecological News, 33: 35-75.

  • Overcast, I., Achaz, G., Aguilée, R., Andújar, C., Arribas, P., Creedy, T.J., Economo, E.P., Etienne, R., Gillespie, R., Jacquet, C., Jay, F., Kennedy, S., Krehenwinkel, H., Lambert A., Meramveliotakis E., Noguerales, V., Perez-Lamarque, B., Roderick, G., Rogers, H., Ruffley, M., Sanmartin, I., Vogler, A.P., Papadopoulou, A., Emerson, B.C., Morlon, H. (2023) Towards a genetic theory of island biogeography: Inferring processes from multidimensional community-scale data. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 32: 4-23.

  • Wang, R., Kass, J.M., Galkowski, C., Garcia, F., Hamer, M.T., Radchenko, A., Salata, S.D., Schifani, E., Yusupov, Z.M., Economo, E.P.,, Guénard, B. (2023) Geographic and climatic constraints on bioregionalization of European ants. J of Biogeography, 50: 503-514.

  • Emerson, B.C., Borges, P.A.V., Cardoso, P., Convey, P., deWaard, J.R., Economo, E.P., Gillespie, R., Kennedy, S., Krehenwinkel, H., Meier, R., Roderick, G., Strasberg, D., Thébaud, C., Traveset, A., Creedy, T.J., Meramveliotakis, E., Noguerales, V., Overcast, I., Morlon, H., Papadopoulou, A., Vogler, A.P., Arribas, P., Andújar, C. (2022) Collective and harmonised high-throughput barcoding of insular arthropod biodiversity: toward a Genomic Observatories Network for islands. Molecular Ecology.

  • Liu, C., Fischer, G., Liu, Q., Peng, Y.Q., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B. (2022) Updating the taxonomy of the ant genus Myrmecina (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in China with descriptions of four new species. Zootaxa, 5182.

  • Wepfer, P., Nakajima, Y., Economo, E.P., Mitarai, S. (2022) The oceanographic isolation of the Ogasawara Islands and genetic divergence in a reef-building coral. J. of Biogeography, 49: 1978-1990.

  • Wang, W.,  Soh, E.J.Y., Yong, G.W.J., Wong, M.K.L., Guénard, B.G., Economo, E.P., Yamane, S. (2022) Remarkable diversity in a little red dot: a comprehensive checklist of known ant species in Singapore (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with notes on ecology and taxonomy. Asian Myrmecology 15: 015006.

  • Kennedy, S., Calaor, J. Hans, J., Zurápiti, Y., Yoshimura, M., Choo, J., Andersen, J., Callagan, J., Roderick, G.K., Krehenwinkel, H., Rogers, H., Gillespie, R.G., Economo, E.P. (2022) Richness and resilience in the Pacific: DNA metabarcoding enables parallelized evaluation of biogeographic patterns. Molecular Ecology.

  • Arribas, P. Andújar, C., Bohmann, K., deWaard, J., Economo, E.P., Elbrecht, V., Geisen, S., Goberna, M., Krehenwinkel, H., Novotny, V., Zinger, L., Creedy, T.J., Emmanouil Meramveliotakis, E., Noguerales, V., Overcast, I., Morlon, H., Papadopoulou, A., Vogler, A.P., Emerson, B.C. (2022) Toward global integration of biodiversity big data: a harmonised metabarcode data generation module for terrestrial arthropods. GigaScience 11: 1-12.

  • Kass, J., Guénard, B., Dudley, K., Jenkins, C.N., Azuma, F., Fisher, B.L., Parr, C.L., Gibb, H., Longino, J.T., Ward, P.S., Chao, A., Lubertazzi, D., Weiser, M., Jetz, W., Guralnick, R., Blatrix, R., Des Lauriers, J., Donoso, D., Georgiadis, C., Gomez, K., Hawkes, P., Johnson, R.A., Lattke, J., MacGown, J.A., Mackay, W., Robson, S., Sanders, N., Dunn, R.R., Economo, E.P. (2022) The global distribution of known and undiscovered ant biodiversity. Science Advances 8: eabp9908.

  • Parker, E., Jones, C., Economo, E.P., Zapfe, K.L. Federman, S., Near, T.J. Dornburg, A. (2022) Pulsed extinction drives convergence in the adaptive radiation of Antarctic fishes. The American Naturalist.

  • Khalife, A., Peeters, C., Economo, E.P. (2022) Minute workers and large soldiers in the subterranean ant Carebara perpusilla: functional consequences of muscle allometry in the thorax. Arthropod Structure & Development 69: 101188.

  • Andrade-Silva, J., Baccaro, F.B., Prado, L.P., Warren, D.L., Kass, J., Guenard, B., Economo, E.P., Silva, R.R. (2022) A large-scale assessment of ant diversity across the Brazilian Amazon Basin: integrating geographic, ecological, and morphological drivers of sampling bias. Ecography 16: e0695.

  • Gómez, K., Kouakou, L., Fischer, G., Hita–Garcia, F., Katzke, J., Economo, E.P. (2022) Pheidole klaman sp. n.: A new addition from Ivory Coast to the Afrotropical pulchella species group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Zookeys 1104: 129-157.

  • Aibekova, L., Boudinot, B., Beutel, R. G., Richter, A., Keller, R. A., Hita Garcia, F., Economo, E. P. (2022) The skeletomuscular system of workers of the generalized ant genus Formica (Formicidae). Insect Systematics and Diversity 6: 2.

  • La Richeliere, F., Dunn, R., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B., Sanders, N., Weiser, M., Abouheif, E., Lessard, J.P. (2022) Warm and arid regions of the world are hotspots of social complexity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 289: 20211899.

  • Katzke, J. Puchenkov, P., Stark, H., Economo, E.P. (2022) A roadmap to reconstructing muscle architecture from micro-CT data. Integrative Organismal Biology 4: obac001.

  • Takashina, N., Jenkins, C., Planck, M., Economo, E.P. (2022) Species-range size distributions: integrating the effects of speciation, transformation, and extinction. Ecology and Evolution 12: e8341.

  • Boudinot, B., Richter, A., Katzke, J., Keller, R., Economo, E.P., Beutel, R., Yamamoto, S. (2022) Evidence for the evolution of eusociality in stem ants and a systematic revision of †Gerontoformica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 195: 1355-1389.

  • Silva, R….(203 authors including Economo, E.P.)…Ribiero, M.A. (2021) ATLANTIC ANTS: a dataset of ants in Atlantic Forests of South America. Ecology 103: e03580.

  • Beutel, R., Friedrich, F., Economo, E.P. (2021). Patterns of morphological simplification and innovation in the megadiverse Holometabola (Insecta). Cladistics.

  • Klunk, C.L., Argenta, M.A., Casadei-Ferreira, A., Economo, E.P., Pie, M.R. (2021) Mandibular morphology, task specialization, and bite mechanics in Pheidole ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of the Royal Society Interface 18: 179.

  • Richter, A., Keller, R.A., Hita Garcia, F., Billen, J., Katzke, J., Boudinot, B.E., Economo, E.P., Beutel, R.G. (2021) Head anatomy of Protanilla lini (Leptanillinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera) and a hypothesis of their mandibular movement. Myrmecological News 31: 85-114.

  • Casadei-Ferreira, A., Friedman, N.R., Economo, E.P., Pie, M.R., Feitosa, R.M. (2021) Head and mandible shapes are highly integrated yet represent two distinct modules within and among worker sub-castes of the ant genus Pheidole. Ecology & Evolution 11: 6104-6118.

  • Booher, D., Gibson, J., Liu, C., Longino, J.T., Fisher, B.L., Janda, M., Narula, N., Toulkeridou, E., Mikheyev, A.S., Suarez, A., Economo, E.P. (2021) Functional innovation promotes diversification of form in the evolution of an ultrafast trap-jaw mechanism in ants. PLoS Biology 19: e3001031.

  • Suzuki, Y., Economo, E.P. (2021) From species sorting to mass effects: spatial network structure mediates the transition between metacommunity archetypes. Ecography 44: 1-12

  • Ross, S.R.P-J., Friedman, N.R., Yoshimura, M., Yoshida, T., Donohue, I.*, Economo, E.P.* (2021) Utility of acoustic indices for ecological monitoring in complex sonic environments. Ecological Indicators 121: 107114. *joint supervision

  • Rosas-Mejia, M., Guénard, B., Aguilar-Méndez, M.J., Ghilardi, A., Vásquez-Bolaños, M., Economo, E.P., Janda, M. (2021) Introduced ants (Formicidae: Hymenoptera) in Mexico – the first database of records. Biological Invasions.

  • Takashina, N., Economo, E.P. (2021) Developing generalized sampling schemes with known error properties: the case of a moving observer. Ecography 44: 293-306.

  • Peeters, C., Keller, R.A., Khalife, A., Fischer, G., Katzke, J., Blanke, A., Economo, E.P. (2020) The loss of flight in ant workers enabled an evolutionary redesign of the thorax for ground labour. Frontiers in Zoology 17: 33.

  • Liu, C., Fischer, G., Hita Garcia, F., Yamane, S., Liu, Q., Peng, Y.Q., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B., Pierce, N. E. (2020) Ants of the Hengduan mountains: a new altitudinal survey and updated checklist for Yunnan Province highlight an understudied insect biodiversity hotspot. ZooKeys 978: 1-171.

  • Dinets, V., Friedman, N.R., Yoshimura, M., Ogasawara, M., Economo, E.P. (2020) Acoustic detection of an unknown bat species in Okinawa. Mammal Study 45: 1-4.

  • Dias, R.K.S., Guénard, B., Economo, E.P., Akbar, S.A., Udayakantha, W.S., Wachkoo, A.A.A. (2020) The Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Sri Lanka: A summary of taxonomic research and updated checklist. ZooKeys 967: 1-142.

  • Casadei-Ferreira, A., Fischer, G., Economo, E.P. (2020) Evidence for a thoracic crop in the workers of some Pheidole species (Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Arthropod Structure & Development 59: 100977.

  • Wepfer, P., Nakajima, Y., Radice, V., Toonen, R., Richards, Z., Ang, P., Sutthacheep, M., Chen, A., Sudek, M., Fujimura, A., Mikheyev, A.S., Economo, E.P.*, Mitarai, S.* (2020) Evolutionary biogeography of the coral genus Galaxea. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 151: 1060905. *joint supervision

  • Fischer, G., Friedman, N.R., Huang, J.P., Knowles, L.L., Mikheyev, A.S., Economo, E.P. (2020) Socially parasitic ants evolve a mosaic of host-matching and parasitic morphological traits. Current Biology 30: 1-8.

  • Friedman, N.R., Lecroq-Bennett, B., Fischer, G., Sarnat, E.M., Huang, J.P., Knowles, L.L., Economo, E.P. (2020) Macroevolutionary integration and modularity of phenotypes within and across ant worker castes. Ecology and Evolution 10: 9371-9383.

  • Aoyama, Y., Yoshimura, M., Ogasawara, M., Suwabe, M., Economo, E.P. (2020) Potential economic impacts of invasion of the red imported fire ant in Okinawa, Japan. Japanese Journal of Ecology 70: 3-14. [in Japanese, original citation: 青山 夕貴子, 吉村 正志, 小笠原 昌子, 諏訪部 真友子, エコノモ P. エヴァン (2020) 沖縄県におけるヒアリの侵入・蔓延時に推定される経済的損失. 日本生態学会誌 70: 3-14.]

  • Miao, B.G., Peng, Y.Q., Yang, D.R., Kubota, Y., Economo, E.P., Liu, C. (2020) Climate and land-use interactively shape butterfly diversity in tropical rainforest and savanna ecosystems of southwestern China. Insect Science.

  • Richter, A., Keller, R.A., Hita Garcia, F., Billen, J., Economo, E.P.*, Beutel, R.G.* (2020) Comparative analysis of worker head anatomy of Formica and Brachyponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny 78:133-170.  *joint supervision

  • Beutel, R.G., Richter, A., Keller, R., Hita Garcia, F., Matsumura, Y., Economo, E.P., Gorb, S.N. (2020) Distal leg structures of the Aculeata (Hymenoptera): a comparative evolutionary study of Sceliphron (Sphecidae) and Formica (Formicidae). Journal of Morphology 281: 737-753.

  • Liu, C., Friedman, N.R., Hita Garcia, F., Darwell, C., Booher, D., Mikheyev, A., Economo, E.P. (2020) Colonize, radiate, decline: unraveling the dynamics of island community assembly with Fijian trap-jaw ants. Evolution 74: 1082-1097.

  • Cicconardi, F., Gamisch, A., Krapf, P., Wagner, H.C., Nguyen, A.D., Economo, E.P., Mikheyev, A.S., Guenard, B., Arthofer, W., Steiner, F.M. (2020) Strong diversifying and relaxed purifying selection are shifting the evolutionary equilibrium of the alpine ant Tetramorium alpestre (Insecta: Hymenoptera) genome. Molecular Biology & Evolution 37: 2211-2227.

  • Yoshimura, M., Suwabe, M., Ikeda, T., Ogasawara, M., Economo, E.P. (2020) Development and Implementation of a workshop on alien species and Red Imported Fire Ants (RIFA) for elementary school students. Japanese Journal of Science Communication 26: 39-56 (in Japanese, original citation: 吉村正志, 諏訪部真友子, 池田貴子, 小笠原昌子, エヴァン・エコノモ (2020) 小学生向け外来種＆ヒアリ学習ワークショップの開発と実践. 科学技術コミュニケーション, 26: 39-56.)

  • Mao, Y., Qian, H., Economo, E.P. (2020) TREEasy: an automated workflow for the inference of gene trees, species trees, and phylonetworks from molecular sequences. Molecular Ecology Resources 20:832-840.

  • Guo, F., Guénard, B., Economo, E.P., Deutsch, C., Bonebrake, T. (2020). Activity niches outperform thermal physiological limits in predicting global ant distributions. Journal of Biogeography 47:829-842.

  • Darwell, C., Fischer, G., Sarnat, E.M., Friedman, N.R., Liu, C., Baiao, G., Mikheyev, A.S. Economo, E.P. (2020). Genomic and phenomic analysis of island ant community assembly. Molecular Ecology 29: 1611-1627.

  • Wepfer, P., Nakajima, Y., Hui, F.K.C., Mitarai, S.*, Economo, E.P.* (2020). Metacommunity ecology of symbionts (Symbiodiniaceae) hosted by the coral Galaxea fascicularis. Marine Ecology Progress Series 633:71-87. *joint supervision

  • Choo, J., Gill, B., Zuur, A., Zent, E., Economo, E.P. (2020) Impacts of an indigenous settlement on taxonomic and functional dung beetle diversity in the Venezuelan Amazon. Biodiversity and Conservation 29:207-228.

  • Friedman, N., Miller, E., Ball, J., Kasuga, H., Remeš, V.*, Economo, E.P.* (2019). Evolution of a multifunctional trait: shared effects of foraging ecology and thermoregulation on beak morphology, with consequences for song evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society: Series B 286: 20192474. *joint supervision

  • Hita Garcia, F., Lieverman, Z., Audisio, T., Liu, C., Economo, E.P. (2019) Revision and microtomography of the cryptic and highly specialized ant genus Discothyrea (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Afrotropical region. Insect Systematics and Diversity 3: 5.

  • Sarnat, E.M., Hita Garcia, F., Dudley, K., Liu, C., Fischer, G., Economo, E.P. (2019) Ready Species One: exploring the use of augmented reality to enhance systematic biology with a revision of Fijian Strumigenys (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insect Systematics and Diversity 3: 6 .

  • Sharaf, M.R., Aldawood, A.S., Economo, E.P., Wachkoo, A.A., Hita Garcia, F. (2019) Taxonomy of Arabian Temnothorax Mayr (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) with description of a new species enhanced by micro-CT next-generation morphology. Scientific Reports 9: 11009.

  • Friedman, N.R., Remeš, V., Economo, E.P. (2019) A morphological integration perspective on the evolution of dimorphism in sexes and social insect castes. Integrative and Comparative Biology 59: 410-419.

  • Ross, S.R.P.-J., Friedman, N., Janicki, J., Economo, E.P. (2019) A test of trophic and functional island biogeography theory with the avifauna of a continental archipelago. Journal of Animal Ecology 88: 1392-1405.

  • Richter, A., Keller, R., Rosumek, F.B., Economo, E.P., Hita Garcia, F., Beutel, R. (2019) The cephalic anatomy of workers of the ant species Wasmania affinis (Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta) and its evolutionary implications. Arthropod Structure and Development 49: 26-49.

  • Takashina, N., Kusumoto, B., Kubota,Y., Economo, E.P. (2019) A geometric approach to scaling individual distributions to macroecological patterns. Journal of Theoretical Biology.

  • Economo, E.P., Huang, J.P., Fischer, G., Sarnat, E.M., Janda, M., Narula, N., Guénard, B., Longino, J., Knowles, L.L. (2019) Evolution of the latitudinal diversity gradient in the hyperdiverse ant genus Pheidole. Global Ecology and Biogeography.

  • Agavekar, G., Agashe, D., Economo, E.P. (2019) Dimensions of ant diversity on a small tropical island. Insect Conservation and Diversity.

  • Mao, Y., Economo, E.P., Satoh, N. (2018) The roles of introgression and climate change in the rise to dominance of Acropora corals. Current Biology 28: 1-10.

  • Moser, D., Lenzer, B., Weigelt, P., Dawson, W., Kreft, H., Pergl, J., Pyšek, P., van Kleunen, M., Winter, M., Capinha, C., Cassey, P., Dullinger, S., Economo, E.P., García-Díaz, P., Guénard, B., Hofhansl, F., Mang, T., Seebens, H., Essl, F. (2018) Remoteness promotes biological invasions on islands worldwide. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115: 9270-9275.

  • Khalife, A., Keller, R.A., Billen, J., Hita Garcia, F., Economo, E.P., & Peeters, C. (2018) Skeletomuscular adaptations of head and legs of Melissotarsus ants for tunnelling through living wood. Frontiers of Zoology 15: 30.

  • Barlow, J., Franca, F., Gardner, T.A., Hicks, C., Lennox, G., Berenguer, E., Castello, L., Economo, E.P., Ferreira, J., Guénard, B., Leal, C.G., Isaac, V., Lees, A., Parr, C., Wilson, S., Young, P., Graham, N. (2018) The future of hyperdiverse tropical ecosystems. Nature 559: 517-526.

  • Staab, M., Hita Garcia, F., Liu, C., Xu, Z.H., Economo, E.P. (2018) Systematics of the ant genus Proceratium Roger (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Proceratiinae) in China – with descriptions of three new species based on micro-CT enhanced next-generation morphology. Zookeys 770: 137-102.

  • Iglesias, T., Dornburg, A., Warren, D., Wainwright, P., Schmitz, L., Economo, E.P. (2018) Eyes wide shut: The impact of dim-light vision on neural investment in marine teleosts. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 31: 1082-1092.

  • Economo, E.P., Narula, N., Friedman, N.R., Weiser, M.D., Geinard, B. (2018) Macroecology and macroevolution of the latitudinal diversity gradient in ants. Nature Communications 9: 1778.

  • Matos-Maravi, P., Clouse, R.M., Sarnat, E.M., Economo, E.P., LaPolla, J.S., Borovanska, M., Rabeling, C., Czekanski-Moir, J., Latumahina, F., Wilson, E.O., Janda, M. (2018) An ant genus-group (Prenolepis) illuminates the biogeography and drivers of insect diversification in the Indo-Pacific.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 12: 16-25.

  • Seebens, H., …48 authors including Economo, E.P. …Essl, F. (2018) Global rise in emerging alien species results from increased accessibility of new source pools. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115: E2264-E2273.                                                                                                                           
  • Ross, S. R. P-J., Friedman, N., Dudley, K., Yoshimura, M., Economo, E.P. (2018) Listening to ecosystems: data-rich acoustic monitoring through landscape-scale sensor networks. Ecological Research 33: 135-147.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
  • Liu, C., Dudley, K., Xu, Z., Economo, E.P. (2018) Mountain metacommunities: climate and spatial connectivity shape ant diversity in a complex landscape. Ecography 41: 101-112.                                                                                                                                 
  • Agavekar, G., Hita Garcia, F., Economo, E.P. (2017) Taxonomic overview of Tetramorium Mayr (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae) in India with descriptions and X-ray microtomography of two new species from the Andaman Islands. PeerJ 5:e3800; DOI 10.7717/peerj.3800                                                                                                                                                                                             
  • Hita Garcia, F., Fischer, G., Liu, C., Audisio, T., Economo, E.P. (2017) Next-generation morphological character discovery and evaluation: an X-ray micro-CT enhanced revision of the ant genus Zasphinctus Wheeler (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Dorylinae) in the Afrotropics. ZooKeys 693: 33-93.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
  • Sarnat, E.M., Friedman, N.R., Fischer, G., Lecroq, B., Economo, E.P. (2017) Rise of the spiny ants: diversification, ecology, and function of extreme traits in the hyperdiverse genus Pheidole. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 112: 514-538.                                                                                                                                
  • Friedman, N., Harmáčková, L., Economo, E.P., Remeš, V. (2017) Smaller beaks for colder winters: Beak size of Australasian songbirds evolves in response to thermoregulatory challenges. Evolution. doi:10.1111/evo.13274                                                                                                                                
  • Dawson, W., Moser, D., van Kleunen, M., Kreft, H., Pergl, J., Pysek, P., Weigelt, P., Winter, M., Lenzer, B., Blackburn, T., Dyer, E., Cassey, P., Scrivens, S., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B., Capinha, C., Seebens, H., Nentwig, W., Berthou, E., Casal, C., Essl, F. (2017) Global hotspots and drivers of alien species richness across taxonomic groups. Nature Ecology and Evolution. doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0186                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
  • Choo, J., Carasco, C., Alvarez-Loayza, P., Simpson, B.B., Economo, E.P. (2017) Differential distance and density-dependent impacts over the life history of two Amazonian palms. Annals of Botany 120: 147-158.                                                                                                                                                                  
  • Hita Garcia, F., Fischer, G., Liu, C., Audisio, T.L., Alpert, G.D., Fisher, B.L., Economo, E.P. (2017) X-ray microtomography for ant taxonomy: an evaluation and case study of two new Terataner (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae) species from Madagascar. PLoS ONE.12(3): e0172641. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0172641                                                                                                                                
  • Guénard, B., Weiser, M., Gomez, K., Narula, N., Economo, E.P. (2017) The Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics (GABI) database: a synthesis of ant species geographic distributions. Myrmecological News 24: 83-89.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
  • Economo, E.P., Janda, M., Guénard, B., Sarnat, E.M.(2017) Assembling a species-area curve through colonization, speciation, and human-mediated introduction. Journal of Biogeography DOI: 10.1111/jbi.12884                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
  • Lasky, J., Keitt, T.H., Weeks, B., Economo, E.P. (2016) A hierarchical model of whole-assemblage island biogeography. Ecography DOI: 10.1111/ecog.02303.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
  • Jaitrong, W., Guénard, B., Economo, E.P., Buddhakala, N., Yamane, S. (2016) A Checklist of Known Ant Species of Laos (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Asian Myrmecology 8: 1-32. DOI: 10.20362/am.008019.                                                                                                                                   
  • Fischer, G., Sarnat, E.M., Economo, E.P. (2016) Revision and microtomography of the Pheidole knowlesi group, an endemic ant radiation from Fiji (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae). PLoS ONE 11(7): e0158544.                                                                                                                                   
  • Sarnat, E.M., Fischer, G., Economo, E.P. (2016) Inordinate spinescence: taxonomic revision and microtomography of the Pheidole cervicornis group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). PLoS ONE 11(7): e0156709.                                                                                                                                   

  • Wepfer, P., Guénard, B., Economo, E.P. (2016) Influences of climate and historical land connectivity on ant beta diversity in East Asia. Journal of Biogeography doi:10.1111/jbi.1276.

  • ​Liu, C., Guénard, B., Economo, E.P. (2016) Reorganization of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic ant biodiversity patterns after conversion to rubber plantation. Ecological Monographs  86: 215-227. 

  • Sukumaran, J., Economo, E.P., Knowles, L.L. (2016) Machine learning biogeographic processes from biotic pattern: a trait-driven dispersal and diversification model with model-choice by simulation-trained discriminant analysis of Principal Components Classification. Systematic Biology 65(3): 525-545. 

  • Janicki, J., Narula, N., Ziegler, M., Guénard, B. Economo, E.P. (2016) Visualizing and interacting with large-volume biodiversity data using client-server web mapping applications: The design and implementation of antmaps.org. Ecological Informatics 32: 185-193.

  • Economo, E.P., Hong, L., Page, S.E. (2016) Social Structure, Endogenous Diversity, and Collective Accuracy. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 125: 212-231.

  • Bharti, H., Guénard, B., Bharti, M., Economo, E.P. (2016) An updated checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of India with their specific distributions in Indian states. ZooKeys 551: 1-83.

  • Sarnat, E.M., Fischer, G., Guénard, B., Economo, E.P. (2015) Introduced Pheidole of the world: taxonomy, distribution, and biology. ZooKeys 543: 1-109.

  • Guénard, B., Economo, E.P. (2015) Additions to the checklist of the ants of Peru. Zootaxa 440: 225-235.

  • Liu, C., Fischer, G., Economo, E.P. (2015) A rare ant on Samoa: first record of the cryptic subfamily Proceratiinae (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) and description of a new Proceratium Roger species. Journal of Hymenoptera Research, 46:35-44

  • Fischer, G., Azorsa, F., Hita Garcia, F., Mikheyev, A.S., Economo, E.P. (2015) Two new phragmotic ant species from Africa: morphology and next-generation sequencing solve a caste association problem in the genus Carebara Westwood. ZooKeys 525: 77-105. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.525.6057

  • Guénard, B., Perrichiot, V., Economo, E.P. (2015) Integration of global fossil and modern biodiversity data reveals dynamism and stasis in ant macroecological patterns. Journal of Biogeography.

  • Economo, E.P., Sarnat, E.M., Janda, M., Clouse, R., Klimov, P., Fischer, G.,  Blanchard, B.D., Ramirez, L.N., Andersen, A., Berman, M., Guénard, B., Lucky, A., Rabeling, C., Wilson, E.O., Knowles, L.L. (2015) Breaking out of biogeographic modules: range expansion and taxon cycles in Indo-Pacific Pheidole. Journal of Biogeography 42: 2289-2301.

  • Triantis*, K., Economo*, E.P., Guilhammon, F., Ricklefs, R. (2015) Diversity regulation at the macro-scales: the case of Oceanic archipelagoes. Global Ecology & Biogeography 24: 594-605. (*equally contributing first authors)

  • Liu, C., Hita Garcia, F., Peng, Y., Economo, E.P. (2015)  Aenictus yangi sp. n. – a new species of the A. ceylonicus species group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dorylinae) from Yunnan, China.  Journal of Hymenoptera Research 42: 33-45.

  • Liu, C., Guénard, B., Hita Garcia, F., Yamane, S., Blanchard, B., Yang, D.R., Economo, E.P. (2015) New records of ant species from Yunnan, China.  Zookeys 477: 17-78.

  • Hita Garcia, F., Sarnat, E.M., Economo, E.P. (2015) A revision of Fijian Proceratium Roger (Hymenoptera, Proceratiinae) with description of a new species.  Zookeys 475: 97-112.

  • Economo, E.P., Klimov, P., Sarnat, E., Guénard, B., Lecroq, B., Knowles, L.L. (2015) Global phylogenetic structure of the hyperdiverse ant genus Pheidole reveals the repeated evolution of macroecological patterns. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B 282: 20141416.

  • Sarnat, E.M., Rabeling, C. Economo, E.P., Wilson, E.O. (2014) First record of a species from the New World Pheidole flavens-complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) introduced to the southwestern Pacific.  BioInvasions Records 3: 301-307.

  • Clouse, R. M., Janda, M., Blanchard, B., Sharma, P., Hoffmann, B.D., Andersen, A.N., Czekanski-Moir, J.E., Krushelnycky, P., Rabeling, C., Wilson, E.O., Economo, E.P., Sarnat, E.M., General, D.M., Alpert, G.D., Wheeler, W.C. (2014) Molecular phylogeny of Indo-Pacific carpenter ants (Hymenoptera : Formicidae, Camponotus) reveals waves of dispersal and colonization from diverse source areas. Cladistics 31:1-14.

  • Tin, M.Y., Economo, E.P., Mikheyev, A.S. (2014) Sequencing degraded DNA from non-destructively sampled museum specimens for RAD-tagging and low-coverage shotgun phylogenetics. PLoS ONE 9(5): e96793.

  • Guénard, B., Blanchard, B.D., Liu, C., Yang, D., Economo, E.P. (2013) Rediscovery of the rare ant genus Bannapone (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Amblyoponinae) and description of the worker caste. Zootaxa 3734 (3): 371-379.

  • Sarnat, E.M., Benjamin Blanchard, Benoit Guenard, John Fasi, Economo, E.P. (2013) Checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Solomon Islands with new records from Makira Island.  Zookeys (257): 47-88.

  • Sarnat, E.M.,  &  Economo, E.P. (2012) The Ants of Fiji. University of California Press.

  • Economo, E.P., & Eli M. Sarnat. (2012)  Revisiting the ants of Melanesia and the taxon cycle: historical and human mediated invasions of a tropical archipelago. The American Naturalist 180 (1): E1-E16. (Presidential award from ASN for best paper of 2012 in Am. Nat.)

  • Economo, E.P. (2011) Biodiversity conservation in metacommunity networks: linking pattern and persistence. The American Naturalist 177: E167-180. (highlighted by Faculty of 1000)

  • Leibold, M., Economo, E.P., Pedro Peres-Neto. (2010) Metacommunity Phylogenetics: Separating the roles of environmental filters and historical biogeography. Ecology Letters 13 (10): 1290-1299

  • Economo, E.P., & Timothy H. Keitt. (2010) Network isolation and local diversity in neutral metacommunities. Oikos 119: 1355-1363.

  • Cowperthwaite, M., Economo, E.P., William Harcombe, Eric Miller, Lauren A. Meyers. (2008)  T Ascent of the Abundant: How mutational networks constrain evolution.  PLoS Computational Biology 4(7) e1000110.

  • Economo, E.P., & Timothy H. Keitt. (2008) Species diversity in neutral metacommunities: a network approach.  Ecology Letters 11(1): 52-62. (highlighted by Faculty of 1000)

  • Enquist, B. J., Andrew J. Kerkhoff, Travis E. Huxman, and Economo, E.P. (2007) Adaptive differences in plant physiology and ecosystem paradoxes: insights from metabolic scaling theory. Global Change Biology 13: 591-609.

  • Economo, E.P., Andrew J. Kerkhoff, Brian J. Enquist. (2005) Allometric growth, life history invariants, and population energetics. Ecology Letters 8: 353-360.

  • Enquist, B.J., Economo, E.P., Travis E. Huxman, Andrew P. Allen, Danielle D. Ignace, James Gillooly. (2003) Scaling metabolism from organisms to ecosystems. Nature 423: 639-642.