Andrew Mongue
@ajmongue.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Molecular Ecology at University of Florida's Department of Entomology and Nematology. Comparative genomics and evolutionary genetics of weird reproductive systems.
Reposted by Andrew Mongue
This story is absolutely wild. Did you know that avocados change sex over the course of a day? And that it's controlled by a single ancient balanced polymorphism? This is flat our crazy
Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies an ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.22.695989v1
December 25, 2025 at 6:33 AM
This story is absolutely wild. Did you know that avocados change sex over the course of a day? And that it's controlled by a single ancient balanced polymorphism? This is flat our crazy
Love some good Caligidae!There's plenty of genomic data from salmon lice that let us do a sex chromosome evolution analysis without having to sequence a single thing. Salmon lice are in the Z chromosome club with birds and butterflies!
doi.org/10.1093/evol...
doi.org/10.1093/evol...
December 14, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Love some good Caligidae!There's plenty of genomic data from salmon lice that let us do a sex chromosome evolution analysis without having to sequence a single thing. Salmon lice are in the Z chromosome club with birds and butterflies!
doi.org/10.1093/evol...
doi.org/10.1093/evol...
Pre-print and weird repro thread time!
I've posted here about scale insects a lot, but ~half of my research is on Lepidoptera. My lab is developing bagworm moths (Psychidae) as models for comparative genomics.
You probably know them like you see in the pics below: caterpillars that make cases.
I've posted here about scale insects a lot, but ~half of my research is on Lepidoptera. My lab is developing bagworm moths (Psychidae) as models for comparative genomics.
You probably know them like you see in the pics below: caterpillars that make cases.
December 9, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Pre-print and weird repro thread time!
I've posted here about scale insects a lot, but ~half of my research is on Lepidoptera. My lab is developing bagworm moths (Psychidae) as models for comparative genomics.
You probably know them like you see in the pics below: caterpillars that make cases.
I've posted here about scale insects a lot, but ~half of my research is on Lepidoptera. My lab is developing bagworm moths (Psychidae) as models for comparative genomics.
You probably know them like you see in the pics below: caterpillars that make cases.
Talk about a life list critter, I've finally found a male cottony cushion scale insect (pic 1)!!
Male scale insects are rare in general but this species is composed almost entirely of simultaneous hermaphrodites (pic 2)! Rare pure males can occur, but we don't fully know under what conditions.
Male scale insects are rare in general but this species is composed almost entirely of simultaneous hermaphrodites (pic 2)! Rare pure males can occur, but we don't fully know under what conditions.
November 14, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Talk about a life list critter, I've finally found a male cottony cushion scale insect (pic 1)!!
Male scale insects are rare in general but this species is composed almost entirely of simultaneous hermaphrodites (pic 2)! Rare pure males can occur, but we don't fully know under what conditions.
Male scale insects are rare in general but this species is composed almost entirely of simultaneous hermaphrodites (pic 2)! Rare pure males can occur, but we don't fully know under what conditions.
Reposted by Andrew Mongue
I'll be heading to @sacnas.bsky.social #NDiSTEM later this week to shamelessly plug my soon-to-open lab (Fall 2026). If any students are interested in studying the plant-insect interactions of the Sonoran Desert, please get in touch!
October 28, 2025 at 9:21 PM
I'll be heading to @sacnas.bsky.social #NDiSTEM later this week to shamelessly plug my soon-to-open lab (Fall 2026). If any students are interested in studying the plant-insect interactions of the Sonoran Desert, please get in touch!
Reposted by Andrew Mongue
New preprint! We unexpectedly discovered that some Caenorhabditis species delete parts of their somatic genome early in development, which fragments their chromosomes and eliminates key germline genes. Multiple lines of evidence suggest this bizarre process was present in the ancestors of C. elegans
October 28, 2025 at 12:11 PM
New preprint! We unexpectedly discovered that some Caenorhabditis species delete parts of their somatic genome early in development, which fragments their chromosomes and eliminates key germline genes. Multiple lines of evidence suggest this bizarre process was present in the ancestors of C. elegans
Lab milestone: My first (now graduated) student's first genome assembly is now publicly available! Well done, @tliesenfelt.bsky.social !!
You can read the companion article below!
You can read the companion article below!
September 4, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Lab milestone: My first (now graduated) student's first genome assembly is now publicly available! Well done, @tliesenfelt.bsky.social !!
You can read the companion article below!
You can read the companion article below!
Shout out to the weird biology of mealybugs and the folks who study it!
Re-watched this one - even after working in this system for 7 years, can't believe how this biology naturally evolved. Amazing system: cells inside cells inside cells
It's another week. Another episode of #MattersMicrobial! Dr. John McCutcheon of Arizona State University discusses fascinating symbioses between insects & bacteria that shed light on endosymbiosis: how eukaryotic cells originated. Please spread the #GoodMicrobialWord!
youtu.be/HZ9X6V7rpVk?...
youtu.be/HZ9X6V7rpVk?...
August 30, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Shout out to the weird biology of mealybugs and the folks who study it!
Reposted by Andrew Mongue
Trump admin planning to change student visas from lasting for duration of academic program to fixed 4-yr term, and then much harder to renew
Could destroy US ability to attract global talent, particularly those seeking advanced degrees in STEM. The median time to complete a PhD is 5.7 yrs per NSF.
Could destroy US ability to attract global talent, particularly those seeking advanced degrees in STEM. The median time to complete a PhD is 5.7 yrs per NSF.
Trump Deals A New Immigration Blow To International Students
Trump officials have proposed a new rule limiting international students to fixed periods of entry, making a U.S. education more precarious.
www.forbes.com
August 29, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Trump admin planning to change student visas from lasting for duration of academic program to fixed 4-yr term, and then much harder to renew
Could destroy US ability to attract global talent, particularly those seeking advanced degrees in STEM. The median time to complete a PhD is 5.7 yrs per NSF.
Could destroy US ability to attract global talent, particularly those seeking advanced degrees in STEM. The median time to complete a PhD is 5.7 yrs per NSF.
Wish I could be there with the rest of the crew!
Tree of Sex annual workshop started today. It will be two days packed with reproductive biology.
August 23, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Wish I could be there with the rest of the crew!
Reposted by Andrew Mongue
Just in time for her #eseb2025 poster on Thursday, @squarehare.bsky.social 's paper on the Poecilia bifurca sex chromosomes was published today academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...
August 20, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Just in time for her #eseb2025 poster on Thursday, @squarehare.bsky.social 's paper on the Poecilia bifurca sex chromosomes was published today academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...
Nate Silver: "journalists have much better bullshit detectors [than academic reviewers]"
Me, an academic reviewer: that's a bold claim that sounds like the author's opinion. It needs either supporting citations or removal from the manuscript. Revise and resubmit.
Me, an academic reviewer: that's a bold claim that sounds like the author's opinion. It needs either supporting citations or removal from the manuscript. Revise and resubmit.
Nate Silver thinks academic journals are a lost cause.
But they aren't. If anything, the real problem is that these journals are *too* profitable.
Which means no one bothers to dream up other ideas, only variations on the theme.
🧵
But they aren't. If anything, the real problem is that these journals are *too* profitable.
Which means no one bothers to dream up other ideas, only variations on the theme.
🧵
August 17, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Nate Silver: "journalists have much better bullshit detectors [than academic reviewers]"
Me, an academic reviewer: that's a bold claim that sounds like the author's opinion. It needs either supporting citations or removal from the manuscript. Revise and resubmit.
Me, an academic reviewer: that's a bold claim that sounds like the author's opinion. It needs either supporting citations or removal from the manuscript. Revise and resubmit.
Reposted by Andrew Mongue
Another paper on polyommatine blue butterflies just published in @genomebiolevol.bsky.social. Blues have high chromosome numbers associated with increased diversification and their karyotypes reveal strategies to maintain genomic integrity amidst profound karyotypic changes doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...
August 12, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Another paper on polyommatine blue butterflies just published in @genomebiolevol.bsky.social. Blues have high chromosome numbers associated with increased diversification and their karyotypes reveal strategies to maintain genomic integrity amidst profound karyotypic changes doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...
A truly great group of folks to work with!
FL Dept of Agriculture seeks an entomologist (Someone in Coccomorpha (scale insects) and Aleyrodidae (whiteflies)) in Gainesville for regulatory #Hemiptera identification
Closes August 20th, 2025
🧪
jobs.myflorida.com/job/GAINESVI...
#sciencejobs #entomology #science #bugsky
Closes August 20th, 2025
🧪
jobs.myflorida.com/job/GAINESVI...
#sciencejobs #entomology #science #bugsky
August 11, 2025 at 1:27 AM
A truly great group of folks to work with!
A very cool bug! Genome coming soon from my lab!
Jagged ambush bugs (genus Phymata) are nifty rugged little tank-like bugs that sit on flowers waiting to catch pollinators, they are so cool! I saw this one on a hike near State College, PA, last week. Check out those chunky raptorial front legs!
August 6, 2025 at 4:34 AM
A very cool bug! Genome coming soon from my lab!
Reposted by Andrew Mongue
Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.
Release from HHS: HHS will wind down its development of the mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
August 5, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.
This is what I've been calling the 3rd (4th?) Genomic Revolution. When I was in grad school the model was to use a few species' genomes to make generalized inferences about whole groups. Now if you want to do a genomic study of a group you just...look at the whole group, no generalizing assumption!
🫠. A tree came out today with 9,072 bird species, all placements based on actual DNA. It looks like they used eBird 2022 taxonomy; 10,096 were recognized back then. That means these folks just dropped (molecularly well informed) knowledge on 83% of the world's birds.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
A new time tree of birds reveals the interplay between dispersal, geographic range size, and diversification
Flight may affect the dispersal and evolution of birds. Using a new evolutionary tree,
Claramunt et al. find that efficient fliers have broader geographic ranges, and speciation
reduces range size, bu...
www.cell.com
July 31, 2025 at 11:06 AM
This is what I've been calling the 3rd (4th?) Genomic Revolution. When I was in grad school the model was to use a few species' genomes to make generalized inferences about whole groups. Now if you want to do a genomic study of a group you just...look at the whole group, no generalizing assumption!
Reposted by Andrew Mongue
Excited to share our new paper in #MolEcol on sex chromosome evolution in African killifish! 🐟 A great collaboration with @alexandrsember.bsky.social . We uncovered ≥4 sex chromosome turnovers across Nothobranchius spp. using cytogenetics & genomics.
👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
July 24, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Excited to share our new paper in #MolEcol on sex chromosome evolution in African killifish! 🐟 A great collaboration with @alexandrsember.bsky.social . We uncovered ≥4 sex chromosome turnovers across Nothobranchius spp. using cytogenetics & genomics.
👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Such a fun and productive trip! Be on the lookout for more on evolutionary genomics and systematics of bagworms from my lab and @dr-akito.bsky.social 's lab soon!
July 9, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Such a fun and productive trip! Be on the lookout for more on evolutionary genomics and systematics of bagworms from my lab and @dr-akito.bsky.social 's lab soon!
Reposted by Andrew Mongue
Good to see some of our US-based ToS members at #Evol2025! If you're at the meeting and interested or just curious about the project, say hi to @ajmongue.bsky.social @nicolevalenzuela.bsky.social @ideaspermatheca.bsky.social @emistasis.bsky.social, Mike White or Louise Heitzmann!
June 22, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Good to see some of our US-based ToS members at #Evol2025! If you're at the meeting and interested or just curious about the project, say hi to @ajmongue.bsky.social @nicolevalenzuela.bsky.social @ideaspermatheca.bsky.social @emistasis.bsky.social, Mike White or Louise Heitzmann!
Getting ready for #Evol2025. If you see me say hi!
I'll be doing a very preliminary talk on bagworm moth evolutionary genetics on Sunday at 11:45 as well!
I'll be doing a very preliminary talk on bagworm moth evolutionary genetics on Sunday at 11:45 as well!
June 19, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Getting ready for #Evol2025. If you see me say hi!
I'll be doing a very preliminary talk on bagworm moth evolutionary genetics on Sunday at 11:45 as well!
I'll be doing a very preliminary talk on bagworm moth evolutionary genetics on Sunday at 11:45 as well!
Well if that's the game of the game...here's a shot of Fulgora lanternaria from a recent trip to Costa Rica.
June 12, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Well if that's the game of the game...here's a shot of Fulgora lanternaria from a recent trip to Costa Rica.
It's finally out! This paper took quite a while but I'm so excited to share now! For anyone who studies sex chromosomes, take note: we found a rare "slower X"! (dN/dS_X < dN/dS_Autos) 👀
New paper: "Faster adaptation but slower divergence of X chromosomes under paternal genome elimination" (Open Access)
w/ Robert Baird, @imprintedgene.bsky.social, Jan Ševčík, Katy Monteith, @laurarossevo.bsky.social & @ajmongue.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@natcomms.nature.com
w/ Robert Baird, @imprintedgene.bsky.social, Jan Ševčík, Katy Monteith, @laurarossevo.bsky.social & @ajmongue.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@natcomms.nature.com
Faster adaptation but slower divergence of X chromosomes under paternal genome elimination - Nature Communications
X chromosomes evolve faster than autosomes, but confounding factors make this a difficult phenomenon to study. Utilising the unusual sex determination system of Sciaridae flies, this study finds a slo...
www.nature.com
June 11, 2025 at 6:24 PM
It's finally out! This paper took quite a while but I'm so excited to share now! For anyone who studies sex chromosomes, take note: we found a rare "slower X"! (dN/dS_X < dN/dS_Autos) 👀
Re-upping this thread on PGE in mealybugs because the results are finally published in Molecular Ecology:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
June 11, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Re-upping this thread on PGE in mealybugs because the results are finally published in Molecular Ecology:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...