Post by Brian Roebuck on Dec 10, 2007 6:30:48 GMT -5
Biologist hunts for bat flies and fleas
By KEVIN FRYLING
Reporter Staff Writer
As a biologist, Katharina Dittmar de la Cruz says it’s important not to lose sight of the natural world while working long hours in the lab. Perhaps that’s why she’s set out on a planet-wide treasure hunt in which she regularly rappels into unexplored caves in remote jungles from South America to Southern Asia.
Katherina Dittmar de la Cruz frequently rappels into caves in remote jungles to scoop bats off rock walls. The UB biologist then removes flies and fleas from the bats before releasing them.
PHOTO: NANCY J. PARISI
Dittmar, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, joined the UB faculty this fall to continue an ambitious research project on the physical and genetic characteristics of bat flies and fleas she began while a postdoctoral researcher at Brigham Young University.
“I’m basically collecting bat flies and fleas all over the world,” she says, noting that the goal is to assemble a complete phylogeny—“essentially a ‘tree of life’”—containing a specimen of every known species of bat fly and flea on the planet. “Using the literature that’s already been compiled as a guide, we know there are about 2,400 species of fleas and roughly 800 species of bat flies,” she explains. “It’s an extremely comprehensive study.”
www.buffalo.edu/reporter/vol39/vol39n13/articles/DittmarFeature.html
By KEVIN FRYLING
Reporter Staff Writer
As a biologist, Katharina Dittmar de la Cruz says it’s important not to lose sight of the natural world while working long hours in the lab. Perhaps that’s why she’s set out on a planet-wide treasure hunt in which she regularly rappels into unexplored caves in remote jungles from South America to Southern Asia.
Katherina Dittmar de la Cruz frequently rappels into caves in remote jungles to scoop bats off rock walls. The UB biologist then removes flies and fleas from the bats before releasing them.
PHOTO: NANCY J. PARISI
Dittmar, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, joined the UB faculty this fall to continue an ambitious research project on the physical and genetic characteristics of bat flies and fleas she began while a postdoctoral researcher at Brigham Young University.
“I’m basically collecting bat flies and fleas all over the world,” she says, noting that the goal is to assemble a complete phylogeny—“essentially a ‘tree of life’”—containing a specimen of every known species of bat fly and flea on the planet. “Using the literature that’s already been compiled as a guide, we know there are about 2,400 species of fleas and roughly 800 species of bat flies,” she explains. “It’s an extremely comprehensive study.”
www.buffalo.edu/reporter/vol39/vol39n13/articles/DittmarFeature.html