ROBERT A. WHARTON

Professor
Entomology

Department of Entomology
Texas A&M University
TAMU 2475
College Station, TX 77843-2475
Office: Minnie Bell Heep Center (map)
Phone: 979.845.8279
Fax: 979.845.6305
E-mail: rawbaw2@tamu.edu
Parasitic Hymenoptera Research Labs
Department Web page

Keywords: Systematics of Parasitic Hymenoptera; Patterns of Host and Prey Utilization by Invertebrates, especially Parasitic Hymenoptera, Solifugae, and Marine Molluscs; Theory and Practice of Biological Control of Insect Pests; Desert and Rocky Intertidal Food Webs; Evolution of Life History Traits in Parasitic Hymenoptera.

Disciplines: Behavioral Ecology, Biological Control, Community Ecology & Population Biology, Phylogenetics & Systematics

Courses:
WFSC 300: Dominica Study Abroad courses in tropical field ecology
ENTO 301: Biodiversity and Biology of Insects
ENTO 305: Evolution of Insect Structure
ENTO 621: Entomophagous Insects

Selected publications:
Gillespie, J.J., M.J. Yoder, and R.A. Wharton 2005. Predicted secondary structure for 28S and 18S rRNA from Ichneumonoidea (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apocrita): Impact on sequence alignment and phylogeny estimation. Journal of Molecular Evolution, in press.

Wharton, R., L. Vilhelmsen, and G.A.P. Gibson. 2004. Characterizing basal apocritans (Hymenoptera: Apocrita). Proceedings of the Russian Entomological Society 75:17-23. (Festschrift for Vladimir Tobias: Invitational Paper)

Copeland, R., I. White, M. Okumu, P. Machera, and R.A. Wharton. 2004. Insects associated with the fruits of the Oleaceae (Asteridae, Lamiales) in Kenya, with special reference to the Tephritidae (Diptera). Bishop Museum Bullein of Entomology 12:135-164. (Festschrift for Elmo Hardy: Invitational Paper)

Aluja, M., J. Rull, J. Sivinski, A.L. Norrbom, R.A. Wharton, R. Macias-Ordonez, F. Diaz-Fleischer, and M. Lopez. 2003. Fruit flies of the genus Anastrepha (Diptera: Tephritidae) and associated native parasitoids (Hymenoptera) in the tropical rainforest biosphere reserve of Montes Azules, Chiapas, Mexico. Environmental Entomology 32:1377-1385.

Mohamed, S.A., W.A. Overholt, R.A. Wharton, S.A., Lux, and M. Eltoum Elameen. 2003. Host specificity of Psyttalia cosyrae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and the effect of different host species on parasitoid fitness. Biological Control 28: 155-163.