We pride ourselves on our ability to work across multiple disciplines to derive insights about how butterflies and moths evolved and continue to change in response to climate, land use, and other drivers. We also conduct a variety of cross-disciplinary research projects, including within the arts, environmental humanities, philosophy, and the social sciences.

Below you may find a list of our publications since the lab began in 2025. Lab member contributions are highlighted in bold.

2026

L.T. Bezerra, V.M. Shirey, L.A. Kaminski, J.M.S Costa, M.O. Breda, E.P. Gonzaga, G.Q.C. Correria, and A. Porto. 2026. “Climate Oscillations Shape Butterfly Communities in a Coastal Degraded Urban Remnant of the Atlantic Forest in Northeastern Brazil.” Journal of Tropical Ecology. In Press.

C. Skojec, R.K. Godfrey, B. Adams, N. Nazrul, C. Earl, A. McTammany, A.Y. Kawahara, V.M. Shirey, and K.D.L. Umbers. 2026. “Eyespots in Automeris Moths Mimic Sympatric Owl Species (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae).” Ecology and Evolution. In Press.

C.T. Callaghan, D.E. Bowler, V.M. Shirey, B.M. Mason, L.H. Antao, I. Staude, J.H. Wilshire, and T. Merckx. 2026. “Global Relationships Between Body Size and Urban Affinity Across More than 30,000 Plant and Animal Species.” eLife. 10947.3.

S. KC, W.W. McGuire, K.R. Willmott, and V.M. Shirey. 2026. “A New Species of Tequila Giant Skipper Aegiale C. Felder & R. Felder, 1860 (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae, Megathymina) from Sonora, Mexico.” ZooKeys. 1272, 157. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1272.181963

S. KC and A. Sapkota. 2026. “Biocontrol agent Lilioceris egena (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) can also survive on the commercial yam Dioscorea cf. cayenensis subsp. rotundata (Dioscoreales).” Oriental Insects 60, 1, 73-86.

C.J. Wright, V.M. Shirey, F.L. Condamine, J.K. Hill, N.E. Pierce, N. Wahlberg, and A.Y. Kawahara. 2026. “Evolution, Genomics, and Conservation of Butterflies and Moths.” Nature Reviews Biodiversity. 2, 3, 186-203. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44358-025-00128-8

P. Cardoso, N.J. Baker, M. Boieiro, D. Bonte, P.A.V. Borges, M.F. Braby, V.V. Branco, D. Chobanov, L. Correia, D.T. Dalton, M. Damas-Mora, R.K. Didham, L. Forster, R. Glatz, J.A. Gorneau, A. Hochkirch, A. Kirse, E.M. Lichtenberg, N. Marcias-Hernandez, M. Milicic, M. Moir, P. Moreno-Garcia, R. Neessen, J.A. Noriega, C.A. Penick, K.I. Perry, J. Pryke, C. Rego, K.A. Roeder, S. Saussure, V.M. Shirey, P. Sihvonen, I. Svetnik, S. Tarasov, P. Trindade, E.A.R. Welti, M. Wong, C. Scherber. 2026. “Toward a Global Repository of Insect Traits (GRIT).” Insect Conservation and Diversity. 19, 2, 253-267. https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.70035

S.C. Mason Jr., S. Weidensaul, A. Dougherty, A.J. Doyle, M.V. Rady, L.H. Semmler, M.A. Steinbicker, M.T. Mick, E.M. Lark, E. Snyder, and V.M. Shirey. 2026. “Digitization of Historical Specimens for the Hog Island Audubon Camp Natural History Collection, Maine.” Biodiversity Data Journal. 14, e182222. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.14.e182222