Major research interests revolve around biosystematics and conservation
of the beetle superfamily Scarabaeoidea. This involves: revision of African
genera of various families; higher level phylogeny of the families; phylogeny
of tribes of dung beetles (Scarabaeinae); effects of farming practices and
habitat change on dung beetle communities; adaptations to environmental
pressures. Current projects include:
- Molecular systematics of Scarabaeinae (with collaborator, Dr Alfried
Vogler, The Natural History Museum,
London).
- Taxonomy of African Bolboceratidae (with ex post-doc, Dr Sibylle Gussmann,
Transvaal Museum, Pretoria).
- Astral navigation using polarised light by the flightless dung beetle
genus Pachysoma (with collaborators Eric Warrant, Marie Dacke and Peter
Nordström, University
of Lund, Sweden, and Dr Marcus Byrne, University
of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg).
- Morphological phylogeny of the Scarabaeinae (with ex post-doc, Keith
Philips, Western Kentucky University,
USA).
- Phylogenetic studies of the tribe Canthonini (with student, Claudia
Medina).
- Thermoregulatory ability of ball-rolling dung beetles of different
ages (with collaborator, Stan Caveney, The
University of Western Ontario, Canada).
- Feeding mechanisms in dung beetles (with collaborator, Peter Holter,
University of Copenhagen).
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