The Erickson Lab
at the University of Richmond
We are an evolutionary genetics lab studying the evolution of a newly arrived invasive species: the African fig fly (Zaprionus indianus). This short-lived species can't survive our temperate winters in Virginia, so it recolonizes orchards in Virginia each year and then reproduces for several generations, allowing us to study how it adapts to new environments in a repeated fashion. We hope this research will help us understand how invasive species are so successful! We are also studying the development of the super cool white and black racing stripes on the thorax this little critter.
"From so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved."
— Charles Darwin
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution"
— Theodosius Dobzhansky
— Charles Darwin
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution"
— Theodosius Dobzhansky