Ellen O. Martinson

🌟🌟Interested in a postdoctoral project about host-parasite coevolution and/or underlying mechanisms? 🌟🌟

Check your eligibility for this fellowship & contact me. I am particularly interested in hosting scholars from the Global South (¡Arriba mi gente!). www.hfsp.org/funding/hfsp...

Minimalism is in: two new Diastrophus (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) species inducing inconspicuous galls on cinquefoils (Rosaceae: Potentilleae), with evaluation of the extended phenotype across gall wasps While the majority of galling insects induce visible alterations to their host plants, there are many species that induce inconspicuous galls, changing only the internal structure of the host plant...

Some good news - a new #gall #wasp paper from our group! This is one of my favorites so far - two new Diastrophus species, a review of “cryptic” galling (galls with no external sign of presence), and some novel hypotheses regarding evolution of gall inquilines. See more here: doi.org/10.1080/0022...

Thanks! We made a strong case in the cover letter that the descriptions only made the paper better! They even let us go above the typical word count to keep them. Really happy the editor saw the added value.

This work highlights how ecological specialization can scale up to drive lineage divergence across communities, providing a framework for understanding diversification in multi-trophic systems. End 🧵

Given that many of the most species-rich animal groups—including braconid and chalcidoid wasps, as well as helminths—are dominated by endoparasitic lineages, our results raise the possibility that cascading HAD contributes disproportionately to global biodiversity patterns

Our findings suggest that endoparasitism may promote host-associated differentiation, potentially driven by the intimate and prolonged interactions required to develop within a host and evade its immune system.

PCA and phylogenies of the four tested associates.

So we tested a second endoparasitoid (Halticoptera), an ectoparasitoid (Torymus), and an inquiline beetle (Anthonomus) and found while both endoparasioids showed signals of HAD, it wasn’t found in the other two ecological guilds

These Eurytoma were endoparasitoids which develop slowly inside their hosts. Would we see the same cascading HAD pattern in ectoparasitoids, which develop more quickly from eating their hosts from the outside, or inquilines, which live commensally within the gall and don’t directly interact?

We then asked ourselves how much cryptic biodiversity is hiding in galling systems and whether the interactions between organisms could influence the occurrence of HAD.

Pinned males and female wasps of the three new species

Here we introduce Eurytoma trixa, Eurytoma ericameria and Eurytoma luminaria as new species! And while it might not look like it here, there are some morphological differences as well

Collection map of New Mexico and a phylogeny showing three well defined species from sequence data

We collected Eurytoma from the galls of three species of Aciurina throughout New Mexico and were also able to get sequence data from museum specimens of Eurytoma chrysothamni. We found solid evidence that they were THREE new species, formally described in our paper

Host-associated differentiation (HAD) is a well-known mechanism of speciation in plant/herbivore interactions, but HAD cascading upwards through trophic levels, ultimately leading to cryptic speciation in parasitoids is less well studied

Graph showing difference in emergence times of the wasp

Several years ago, when we first started rearing Aciurina galls we found that this tank of a wasp, Eurytoma chrysothamni was our primary parasitoid. However we also noticed that they emerged at slightly different times from different Aciurina species…so we started to wonder if they were speciating

Photo of a tank-like black parasitoid wasp, a new species called Eurytoma trixa

New paper from the Martinson Lab! A fun study where we find a nice example of cascading speciation and describe three new species. Plus some exciting data to suggest that ecological guild may influence the impacts of host-associated differentiation. A 🧵. #galls #insects 🧪 doi.org/10.1111/mec....

Director of the Center for Advanced Research Computing (CARC) The University of New Mexico (UNM) seeks a dynamic, innovative, results-oriented, and proven leader for the position of Director of the Center for A...

We are looking for a new Director of the Center for Advanced Research Computing at the University of New Mexico. If you, or anyone you know, has experience with advanced computing systems please follow the link. unm.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

That's a weird one! It looks to be a rust gall, which are formed by fungi. You should upload your finding to gallformers (www.gallformers.org/gall/3482) so there can be a second observation of it!

Review of Herb Gall Wasp Tribes (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Aylacini Sensu lato), with an Updated Key to Cynipid Tribes and a Checklist of World Species We review the tribes of Cynipidae that are known to contain gall inducers on herbaceous plants, which are presently classified in four tribes: Aulacideini, Aylacini, Diastrophini, and Phanacidini. We ...

New #gall #wasp paper in PESW! We provide an updated key, checklist, and commentary for the four tribes of “herb gall wasps” including some nomenclatural changes. Check it out here: bioone.org/journals/pro...

go.bsky.app/8zZNEGV

Great resource to connect early career folks with more senior scientists looking to hire postdocs! 🧪

Hey #Evol2025 - My colleague @waspvenom.bsky.social and I are looking for a postdoc for our #NSF - #USDA funded grant to understand the genetic basis of gall formation! Please see that attached ad, and feel free to talk to me @evolmtg.bsky.social, or contact Dr. Ellen Martinson directly!

If you see this post a flower🪷

The Rocky Mountain Irises are blooming in Northern New Mexico!

NSF Grant Termination Information Collection Form Please use this form to submit information identifying specific NSF grants that have been cancelled for any reason after January 20, 2025. We are tracking these grants to increase transparency, organize affected PIs, and facilitate responses, including via litigation. Please share the form as widely as possible with your networks. We are actively building a pipeline to organize these terminations and will soon have a tracker akin to our NIH grant tracker at https://airtable.com/appjhyo9NTvJLocRy/shrNto1NNp9eJlgpA WE WILL NOT DISCLOSE THE IDENTITY OF ANYONE WHO USES THIS FORM TO PROVIDE INFORMATION. We will keep your identity confidential. These resources are maintained by Noam Ross of rOpenSci and Scott Delaney of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, with input and support from additional volunteers. For any questions, please contact Scott Delaney on Signal (sdelaney.84). THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE!

🚨Report your NSF grant terminations! 🚨

We are starting to collect information on NSF grant terminations to create a shared resource as we have for NIH. The more information we collect, the more we can organize, advocate, and fight back! Please share widely!

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The Democrats on the House Science Committee have set up a website to collect stories from fired federal employees, anonymously if desired. Please amplify. (This helps the lawyers establish standing for bringing legal cases against the administration!)

democrats-science.house.gov/sciencefirings

I lost my job at the National Science Foundation yesterday, along with 167 of my colleagues, including some dear friends. This was the best job I've ever had, and I thought it would be my last. The PI community has been sympathetic and supportive, without exception. I will miss working for you.

Untangling host specialization in a “double dark taxa” system Abstract. Platygastrine wasps (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) are parasitoids of gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). They and their hosts are exceptionally

Gall midges and their parasitoids are abundant, megadiverse, and very hard to identify! Such "double dark taxa" systems present special challenges for ecology and agriculture. 🧵🧪🐙 @smnstuttgart.bsky.social @marinamoser.bsky.social @krogmann.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/aesa...

Posted with alt text 🧪

“Dead” plant stuff hold food for birds during winter, when food is scarce. Galls such as this goldenrod gall have insect larvae in them. You can see who knows what to do … 😊. My tiny brush again 🤓. This painting shows a cute downy woodpecker pecking on a goldenrod gall to get wasp larvae in winter. #birdsinart #botanicalart #naturalhistoryart #SciArt #natureart #conservation #oneearth

“Dead” plant stuff hold food for birds during winter, when food is scarce. Galls such as this goldenrod gall have insect larvae in them. You can see who knows what to do … 😊. My tiny brush again 🤓.
#birdsinart #botanicalart #naturalhistoryart #SciArt #natureart #conservation #oneearth

Parasitoids FTW!!! Illustration in homage to Eric Carle by Sloan Tomlinson

Many examples of the diversity in morphology of insect induced galls from hairy to colorful to spiky.

Why do insect galls have such varied shapes even among closely related species?? The Enemy Hypothesis, posits that pressure from parasitoids drives the dynamic evolution of external gall traits. We have a new paper in @rsocpublishing.bsky.social on this hypothesis see more in this 🧵! 🧪 #galls

Additionally it shows the importance of collecting guild information when studying these communities. End 🧵

These insights enhance our understanding of the evolutionary dynamics between galling insects and their parasitoids and highlight the broader ecological implications of symbiotic interactions as drivers of biodiversity and ecosystem complexity.