Dear Supporter,
May on KU’s campus is all about students… and, somehow, fish! If you’re an ichthyology enthusiast, this month’s newsletter is definitely for you.
As graduation draws near, we are preparing for bittersweet farewells to the Class of 2026. This spring, around thirty undergraduate and graduate students who work or volunteer at the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum are earning their degrees and moving on to the next chapter of their academic or professional careers. This community of students is among some of the brightest and most dedicated we've seen, united by a shared curiosity of the natural world. Getting to tell their stories and see the wide range of academic paths that brought them here has made my work in communications especially meaningful. Fields of study include:
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- Ecology, Evolutionary, and Organismal Biology
- Museum Studies
- Geology
- Anthropology
- Computer Science
- Visual Communications Design
- Psychology
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At the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, we pride ourselves on offering students hands-on experiences working with our collections while contributing to our mission to study past and present life on Earth. Although this class will be greatly missed, we look forward to welcoming a new wave of students to continue this important work and build on the foundation their predecessors have laid.
Sincerely,
Natalie Vondrak
Communications Coordinator
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Member Event:
Student Showcase
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May 7 | 5:30-7:30 p.m.
KU Natural History Museum
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Undergraduates play a big role in current research projects, educational programs, and more — and we want to recognize their contributions! Join us in celebrating them at this exclusive, member event in the Panorama Gallery.
Read the full event description »
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| Monarch Watch: Spring Open House
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May 9 | 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
Foley Hall, KU West Campus
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We're supporting our friends at Monarch Watch by tabling at their Spring Open House. Stop by our station to see butterfly specimens up close and make a monarch-themed bracelet to take home. Read the full event description »
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May 24 | 1:30-3:30 p.m.
KU Natural History Museum
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Celebrate Earth's amazing diversity with members of the Kansas Postdoctoral Outreach Project. Identify wetland mammals by their tracks and scat, explore how animals use camouflage, and more at this family-friendly, drop-in style event. Read the full event description »
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Curating Collections: Ichthyology
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The Biodiversity Institute houses over 11 million biological specimens and 2 million archaeological artifacts from around the world—each with a story just waiting to be shared!
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KU Ichthyology collection reaches milestone with help from Missouri
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Specimen KUI 45000, a brook silverside, Labidesthes sicculus.
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The University of Kansas Ichthyology Division reached a milestone of more than 45,000 cataloged lots, aided by a substantial orphaned collection from the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Unlike most natural history collections, which catalog specimens individually, ichthyology collections are organized by lots, in which all specimens of a single species collected at the same place and time are preserved together in a single jar. The milestone lot, KUI 45000, is a specimen of Brook Silverside, Labidesthes sicculus, collected in August 1994 from the Spring River in Jasper County, Missouri. This fish species lives in slow moving, clear rivers and lakes from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi Basin and Gulf Coast plains. Read the full article »
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See a full list of recent publications at the end of this newsletter.
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Research traces evolution of anglerfishes’ famed fishing-rod lures
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KU Ichthyology graduate student Alex Maile's research on the evolution of anglerfishes' lures made a splash in several major news outlets, including Science, The New York Times, and National Geographic. His study, in collaboration with Matthew Davis, a professor of biology at St. Cloud State University and a KU alumnus, revealed that these lures serve a dual purpose: attracting both food and mates. Read the full article »
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The Anglerfish species Bufoceratias wedli from the Field Museum of Natural History. Photo: Matthew Davis
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NSF digitization project opens access to millions of African plant specimens
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A National Science Foundation grant led by Town Peterson, University Distinguished Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and senior ornithology curator, is uniting 21 U.S. herbaria, biodiversity data specialists, and African researchers to create one of the largest digital resources of tropical African seed plants ever assembled. Read the full article »
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KU Paleontology graduate program ranked No.1 in the country
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For the third year in a row, the University of Kansas Paleontology graduate program has been ranked No. 1 among public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The Biodiversity Institute has three divisions and over a dozen graduate students dedicated to studying the world’s prehistoric vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants. Read the full article »
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KU Participates in collaborative survey of Philippine biodiversity
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Staff and student researchers from the KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum spent four weeks in the Bicol Region of Luzon, Philippines, in search of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The expedition is part of a three-year project to sample vertebrates across the South Pacific. View the social media post »
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Giant golden-crowned flying fox, Acerodon jubatus. Photo: Danny Ibañez
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Museum member event was a howling success
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Guided by lantern light and sound, museum members explored our galleries after hours during our latest member event, stopping at learning stations led by KU staff and student researchers. Each station focused on how animals use sound to communicate. From coyote howls to the high-pitched pulses of katydids, members discovered how animals use sound for many purposes, including attracting mates, deterring predators, and claiming territory.
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New youth t-shirts featuring Kansas state symbols
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Now available in the gift shop: youth T-shirts featuring all six animal symbols of Kansas! Youth sizes are available in yellow or gray ($23 plus tax), and toddler sizes are available in brown ($15 plus tax). Thank you to KU Mammalogy graduate student Danny Ibañez for designing this fun shirt spotlighting Kansas biodiversity.
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New exhibit: Collections from Around the World
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In honor of the international soccer phenomenon coming to Greater Kansas City this summer, we are debuting a new temporary exhibit, Collections from Around the World, on view May 11-July 27. See flora and fauna from several countries participating in the tournament, including the ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernua), a fresh water fish found in in temperate regions of Europe and northern Asia.
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Photo: Christa Rohrbach, iNaturalist
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Staff & Student Spotlights
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Stay up-to-date with current activities and events by following us
on your favorite social media channels.
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Cheers to the class of 2026! On behalf of the entire KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum community, we extend our sincerest congratulations to the students graduating this May who have been part of our team. From working in the collections to managing the gift shop to leading education programs, this group has made invaluable contributions to our mission to study past and present life on Earth.
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Congratulations to KU Paleobotany graduate student Keana Tang for successfully defending her dissertation on uncovering floral evolution in Laurales with honors. Now, with her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in hand, Keana will head to the University of Vienna as a postdoctoral researcher studying flower evolution.
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Congrats to KU Herpetology student Christan Supsup for successfully defending his dissertation. Christian’s cutting-edge research focused on developing new statistical tools and workflows for advancing integrative approaches to the challenge of distinguishing species using machine learning algorithms. Returning to the Philippine's with his Ph.D. from KU's Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department, Christian is on track to take up a new professorship position at De La Salle University, Manila.
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A crew from the KU Archaeology Division celebrated Earth Day and Archaeology Month at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center in Topeka. The group included representatives from KU Indigenous Studies, Museum Studies, Anthropology, and Archaeology, who led children through a hands-on archaeological excavation in the Dino Dig exhibit.
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Photo: Kansas Children's Discovery Center
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In the BIOL 592 Ichthyology class, taught by Curator Leo Smith, the semester regularly wraps up with an open-ended project that allow students to flex their creativity. For undergraduates Abby Clark, Hayden Cannon, and Lauren Mckinley, they opted to make a paper mâché opah fish (Lampris guttatus). This truly warm-blooded, or endothermic fish, is brightly colored with red fins and polka dot markings.
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World Oceans Day: Gallery Activity
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Sunday, June 7 | 12-4 p.m.
KU Natural History Museum
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Celebrate World Oceans Day at the museum! Ask for an activity guide at the front desk, then go on an adventure searching for sea creatures in the galleries. Those who complete the activity will earn a fun ocean-themed prize! Prizes are only available while supplies last.
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Revisiting the enigmatic Cheirolepidiaceae: origins, phylogenetic relationships, and a new whole-plant concept. Annals of Botany. (Ana Andruchow-Colombo, Kelly Matsunaga)
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A new miniaturised Platymantis (Amphibia: Anura: Ceratobatrachidae) from Sibuyan and Tablas islands, Romblon Island Group, Philippines. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. (Camila G. Meneses, Kier Pitogo, Cesar P Syrus, Christian Supsup, Rafe M. Brown)
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Enhancing island biogeography: improving identification of potential species pools via environmental filtering. Scientific Reports. (Claudia Nuñez-Penichet, Jorge Soberón, Marlon E. Cobos, Andrew Townsend Peterson)
- An updated herpetological inventory of the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, eastern Mindanao Island, Philippines. ZooKeys. (Rafe M. Brown)
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A new species of fringed Forest Gecko, genus Luperosaurus (Squamata: Gekkonidae), from Sibuyan Island, Central Philippines. PeerJ. Camila G. Meneses, Rafe M. Brown)
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Mapping global avian influenza risk patterns through waterbird activity entropy. Nature Communications. (Andrew Townsend Peterson)
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Differences in extinction selectivity and their relationship to functional traits in late Cenozoic mollusks. PeerJ. (Daniel Rojas, Luke Strotz, Bruce Lieberman)
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The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the university’s programs and activities. Retaliation is also prohibited by university policy. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and procedures and is the Title IX Coordinator for all KU and KUMC campuses: Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX, civilrights@ku.edu, Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY. Reports can be submitted by contacting the Title IX Coordinator as provided herein or online and complaints can be submitted with the Title IX Coordinator or online.
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