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SI Entomology Staff
Seán Brady,
Curator of Hymenoptera
(Bees & Aculeate Wasps)
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Research Interests:
- Phylogenetics, molecular evolution, systematics, and historical biogeography of Hymenoptera, especially bees and ants;
- Coevolutionary patterns and dynamics between Hymenoptera and their symbionts (e.g., other arthropods, fungi, bacteria);
- Evolution of sociality in insects;
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Phylogenetic theory and methodology, including applications to large-scale evolutionary questions
My research concentrates on increasing our understanding of the origins,
diversification, and molecular evolution of social insects, especially
ants and bees. I am particularly interested in applying comparative
approaches that incorporate evidence from systematics, ecology, genetics,
and genomics in order to address specific questions in ant and bee
evolution.
Publications:
Rightmyer, M.G., Griswold, T., Brady, S.G. Phylogeny and systematics of the bee genus Osmia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) with special emphasis on North American Melanosmia: New subgenera, synonymies, and nesting biology revisited. Systematic Entomology, in press.
Gibbs, J, Brady, SG, Kanda, K, Danforth, BN. 2012. Phylogeny of halictine bees supports a shared origin of eusociality for Halictus and Lasioglossum (Apoidea: Anthophila: Halictidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution,65(3): 926-939. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.08.013
Gotzek, D, Brady, SG, Kallal, RJ, LaPolla, JS. 2012. The importance of using multiple approaches for identifying emerging invasive species: The case of the Rasberry Crazy Ant in the United States. PLoS ONE, 7(9): e45314. 
Seltmann, KC, Yoder, MJ, Miko, I, Forshage, M, Bertone, MA, Agosti, D, Austin, AD, Balhoff, JP, Borowiec, MK, Brady, SG, Broad, GR, Brothers, DJ, Burks, RA, Buffington, ML, Campbell, HM, Dew, KJ, Ernst, AF, Fernández-Triana, JL, Gates, MW, Gibson, GAP, Jennings, JT, Johnson, NF, Karlsson, D, Kawada, R, Krogmann, L, Kula, RR, Mullins, PL, Ohl, M, Rasmussen, C, Ronquist, F, Schulmeister, S, Sharkey, MJ, Talamas, E, Tucker, E, Vilhelmsen, L, Ward, PS, Wharton, RA, Deans, AR. 2012. A hymenopterist’s guide to the Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology: utility, clarification, and future directions. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 27:67–88.
Almeida, EAB, Pie, MR, Brady, SG and Danforth, BN. 2012. Biogeography and diversification of colletid bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae): emerging patterns from the southern end of the world. Journal of Biogeography, 39(3): 526-544.
Mehdiabadi, NJ, Mueller, UG, Brady, SG, Himler, AG, Schultz, TR. 2012. Symbiont fidelity and the origin of species in fungus-growing ants. Nature Communications, 3 doi:10.1038/ncomms1844
Rinkevich, F.D., Hedtke, S.M., Leichter, C.A., Harris, S.A., Su, C., Brady, S.G., Task, V., Qiu, X., Scott, J.G. 2012. Multiple origins of kdr-type resistance in the house fly, Musca domestica. PLOS ONE, 7(12): e52761. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0052761
Buffington, ML, Brady, SG, Morita, SI, van Noort, S. 2012. Divergence estimates and early evolutionary history of Figitidae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea). Systematic Entomology, 37:287–304. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.2012.00617.x
LaPolla, JS, Kallal, RRJ and Brady, SG. 2012. A new ant genus from the Greater Antilles and Central America, Zatania (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), exemplifies the utility of male and molecular character systems. Systematic Entomology, 37(1): 200-214. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.2011.00605.x
Brady, SG, Litman, J, & Danforth, BN. 2011. Rooting phylogenies using gene duplications: An empirical example from the bees (Apoidea). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 60:295-304.
Brady, SG. 2011. Effects of fossil calibration uncertainty on divergence dating of ants and bees. American Entomologist 57:56-57.
Brady, SG. 2011. Book review: The Leafcutting Ants by B. Hölldobler and E.O. Wilson, Quarterly Review of Biology, 86(3): 236-237.
LaPolla, J.S., Brady, S.G., Shattuck, S.O. 2011. Monograph of Nylanderia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the World: An introduction to the systematics and biology of the genus. Zootaxa 3110:1–9.
Droege, S., Rightmyer, M.G., Sheffield, C.S., & Brady, S.G. 2010. New synonymies in the bee genus Nomada from North America (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Zootaxa 2661:1-32.
Ward, P.S., Brady, S.G., Fisher, B.L., & Schultz, T.R. 2010 Phylogeny and biogeography of dolichoderine ants: Effects of data partitioning and relict taxa on historical inference. Systematic Biology 59:342-362.
LaPolla, J.S., Brady, S.G., and Shattuck, S.O. 2010. Designation of a neotype for Paratrechina currens Motschoulsky, 1863. Notulae Naturae 481:1-2.
LaPolla, J.S., Brady, S.G., & Shattuck, S.O. 2010. Phylogeny and taxonomy of the Prenolepis genus-group of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 35:118-131.
Wernegreen, J.J., Kauppinen, S.N., Brady, S.G., & Ward, P.S. 2009. One nutritional symbiosis begat another: Phylogenetic evidence that the ant tribe Camponotini acquired Blochmannia by tending sap-feeding insects. BMC Evolutionary Biology 9:292.
Bradley, T.J., Briscoe, A.D., Brady, S,G., Contreras, H.L., Danforth, B.N., Dudley, R., Grimaldi, D., Harrison, J.F., Kaiser, J.A., Merlin, C., Reppert, S.M., VandenBrooks, J.M., & Yanoviak, S.P. 2009. Episodes in insect evolution. Integrative and Comparative Biology 49:590-606.
Kozaki, T., Brady, S.G., and Scott, J.G. 2009. Frequencies and evolution of organophosphate insensitive acetylcholinesterase alleles in laboratory and field populations of the house fly, Musca domestica L. Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology 95:6-11.
Brady, S.G., Larkin, L., and Danforth, B.N. 2009. Bees, ants, and stinging wasps (Aculeata). Pp. 264–269 in Hedges, S.B., Kumar, S. (eds.) The Timetree of Life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ward, P.S. and Brady, S.G. 2009. Rediscovery of the ant genus Amyrmex Kusnezov (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and its transfer from Dolichoderinae to Leptanilloidinae. Zootaxa 2063:46–54.
Sosa-Calvo, J., Brady, S.G., and Schultz, T.R. 2009. The gyne of the enigmatic fungus-farming ant species Mycetosoritis explicata. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 18:113–120.
LaPolla, J.S., Burwell, C., Brady, S.G., and Miller, D.R. 2008. A new ortheziid (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) from Australia associated with Acropyga myops Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and a key to Australian Ortheziidae. Zootaxa 1946:55–68.
Schultz, T.R. and Brady, S.G. 2008. Major evolutionary transitions in ant agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 105:5435–5440. (Cover article, with accompanying commentary.)
Brady, S.G., Schultz, T.R., Fisher, B.L., and Ward, P.S. 2006. Evaluating alternative hypotheses for the early evolution and diversification of ants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 103:18172–18177. (Cover article, with accompanying commentary.)
Brady, S.G., Sipes, S., Pearson, A., and Danforth, B.N. 2006. Recent and simultaneous origins of eusociality in halictid bees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 273:1643–1649.
Danforth, B.N., Sipes, S., Fang, J., and Brady, S.G. 2006. The history of early bee diversification based on five genes plus morphology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 103:15118–15123.
Rinkevich, F.D., Zhang, L., Hamm, R.L., Brady, S.G., Lazzaro, B.P., and Scott, J.G. 2006. Frequencies of the pyrethroid resistance alleles of Vssc1 and CYP6D1 in house flies from the eastern United States. Insect Molecular Biology 15:157–167.
Brady, S.G. and Ward, P.S. 2005. Morphological phylogeny of army ants and other dorylomorphs (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 30:593–618.
Ward, P.S., Brady, S.G., Fisher, B.L., and Schultz, T.R. 2005. Assembling the ant “Tree of Life.” Myrmecologische Nachrichten 7:87–90.
Brady, S.G. and Danforth, B.N. 2004. Recent intron gain in elongation factor-1a of colletid bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae). Molecular Biology and Evolution 21:691–696.
Danforth, B.N., Brady, S.G., Sipes, S.D., and Pearson, A. 2004. Single copy nuclear genes recover Cretaceous age divergences in bees. Systematic Biology 53:309–326. (Cover article.)
Brady, S.G. 2003. Evolution of the army ant syndrome: the origin and long-term evolutionary stasis of a complex of behavioral and reproductive adaptations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 100:6575–6579.
Ward, P.S. and Brady, S.G. 2003. Phylogeny and biogeography of the ant subfamily Myrmeciinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Invertebrate Systematics 17:361–386.
Bininda-Emonds, O.R.P.*, Brady, S.G.*, Kim, J., and Sanderson, M.J. 2001. Scaling of accuracy in extremely large phylogenetic trees. Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing 6:547–558. (*First two authors contributed equally.)
Sanderson, M.J., Wojciechowski, M.F., Hu, J.-M., Sher-Khan, T, and Brady, S.G. 2000. Error, bias and longbranch attraction in data for two chloroplast photosystem genes in seed plants. Molecular Biology and Evolution 17:782–797.
Brady, S.G., Gadau, J., and Ward, P.S. 2000. Systematics of the ant genus Camponotus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): A preliminary analysis using data from the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase I. Pp. 131–139 in Austin, A. D., Dowton, M. (eds.) Hymenoptera. Evolution, biodiversity and biological control. Collingwood, Victoria: CSIRO Publishing, xi + 468 pp.
Gadau, J., Brady, S.G., and Ward, P.S. 1999. The systematics, distribution, and ecology of an endemic California Camponotus quercicola (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 92:514–522.
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