The bark and ambrosia beetle fauna (Curculionidae: Platypodinae & Scolytinae) of Australia are an understudied group of beetles. They are taxonomically diverse, widely distributedthroughout Australian mesic forest ecosystems and form evolutionary intriguing symbioses with fungi. They are exemplified by a wide range of behaviours and life history traits, such as sociality and inbreeding. Much of my PhD work explored the phylogeography and microbial ecology of multiple ambrosia beetle species in an evolutionary context using traditional and next generation sequencing technologies. In this talk I will present new species of fungal symbionts, novel strains of bacteria associated with hostbeetles, necessary taxonomic changes, and novel explorations of beetle population genetics and evolutionary relationships with microbes. Furthermore, I will cover some of my current postdoctoral research projects including comparative genomics of native andinvasive Scolytinae.
