Thanks to the support of the 2025 FLMNH Summer Travel Award, I was able to attend the 24th European Congress of Lepidopterology, held in Svatý Jan pod Skalou, Czech Republic. The venue, located near the Chráněná krajinná oblast Český kras conservation area, was a peaceful and inspiring place for lepidopterists to gather and share their work.
At this conference, I presented not only the most up-to-date global phylogeny of bagworm moths (Lepidoptera: Psychidae), but also discussed aspects of genome evolution in the family. Participating in this meeting meant a great deal to me, as my dissertation is a large-scale project that depends heavily on networking and international collaboration with experts worldwide.In the latest results I presented, I incorporated genome resources shared by our European collaborators, Dr. Jadranka Rota and Dr. Niklas Wahlberg (both from Lund University, Sweden), and had the opportunity to meet them in person to discuss future collaborations. During the meeting, I connected with many experts in the field, engaged in helpful bioinformatic discussions about museomics, and established contacts with local permitted collaborators in Africa and Southern Europe – the regions from which we are seeking additional samples for phylogeographic analyses.
It was exciting to share the results we have been working on for the past two years, and equally rewarding to learn from others. The talks throughout the meeting were truly inspiring (the European Lepidoptera Genomics Project, in particular, was outstanding), and I would definitely consider this one of the most fruitful conferences I have attended. Despite I did not get to visit the Natural History Museum collections in Europe, with the permits provided by the conference, we also explored the local bagworm diversity in Svatý Jan pod Skalou area.
With this wonderful and fruitful experience in Czech Republic, I am very excited to continue my works and looking forward to share more of our exciting findings of bagworms in near future! Stay tuned and Go Gators as always!
David Chung-Te Cheng is a graduate student pursuing their Ph.D. in the College of IFAS, Department of Entomology and Nematology, advised by Dr. Akito Kawahara, Curator and Director of McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity.
The 2025 Summer Graduate Student Travel Awards are supported by the FLMNH Department of Natural History using funds from the Louis C. and Jane Gapenski Endowment. If you would like to help support these funds for future student awards, please go to:
Louis C. and Jane Gapenski Endowed Fellowship