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699 Mississippi St, Ste 106
San Francisco, CA 94107
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tel 415.648.3390
fax 415.824.6526

All images on LSaul.com are copyright of Leslie Saul-Gershenz 1990-2004 and may not be reproduced or used without permission, all rights reserved. For use of images, please contact me for licensing and prices at:.

Current Conservation Research

MELOE-HABROPODA EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY
My current research focuses on the recently discovered host location behavior of the blister beetle Meloe franciscanus and its host, the solitary bee Habropoda pallida in the Mojave Desert. The larvae of the blister beetle are female impersonators and they cooperate to mimic the sex pheromone of the female host bee, luring male bees to attempt copulation and then grabbing on to hitch a ride to the next real female bee he mates with. They then transfer to the female and get a ride to her nest where they disembark and begin feeding.

This paper which reports on this new example of cooperative aggressive chemical mimicry and the first example of cooperative behavior in the family Meloidae is:

Saul-Gershenz, L.S., Millar, J. G. 2006. Phoretic nest parasites use sexual deception to obtain transport to their host's nest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103:14039-14044

For movie clips of a male bee pseudocopulating with a larval aggregation click on this link on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science site.

My research images of this new aggressive mimicry system appear in a terrific 2006 Harvard University Press book "The Other Insect Societies" by James Costa and my research is engagingly summarized in Laurence Packer's terrific new book titled "Keeping the Bees: Why all bees are at risk and what we can do to save them" just published in 2010.

This research will be summarized in a new book "Insect Cuticular Hydrocarbons: Biology, biochemistry and chemical ecology" edited by A. Bagneres-Urbany and G. Bloomquist, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

I was a scientific advisor for the BBC’s new series “Life in the Undergrowth” with Sir David Attenborough. This series has a wonderful segment on my and Jocelyn Millar's blister beetle Meloe franciscanus research as does the book by the same name now published by Princeton University Press in the US. Look for the series in the US on Animal Planet. To order the series from the BBC click here.

Jocelyn Millar and I have begun an exciting new collaboration this year with Betsy Arnold from the University of Arizona, to look at the role of fungal endophytes in the Meloe-Astragalus-Habropoda system.

RESEARCH VIDEOGRAPHY FOR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC In 2006, I worked as researcher and videographer on documenting Eciton army ant behavior in the Amazon Basin in Ecuador, Dorylus driver ants in the rainforests of Ghana, and Polygerus slave-making ants in the U.S. for a National Geographic series on ants (see the August 06 issue). For a brief look at video I shot of three species of Eciton army ants go to: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0608/feature7/multimedia.html

 

BIODIVERSITY INVENTORY
I spent part of the 2004 field season inventorying the bees of the Mojave Desert in Clark County, NV for with the USDA ARS Bee Biology Lab team in Logan helping to document a staggering 689 species of bees and 13 new species for this bioregion. I was able to locate several new nesting sites for Habropoda and Anthophora species as well to add to those species distribution data.

POLLINATION ECOLOGY RESEACH

Our bee team found a new population of an undescribed species of Panurginus sp. bee during our Springtown Wetlands pollinator study. Robbin Thorp at U. C. Davis is now busy working up a description and survey of its biology for this oligolectic (specialist) crack-nesting species. This species of bee is a pollinator of the very beautiful Downingia pulchella.

Saul-Gershenz L., Fiedler P. L., Barlow M., Rokich D. 2004. Pollinator assemblage of the endangered plant Cordylanthus palmatus at Springtown Wetlands Reserve, Livermore, California. Expanding the Ark: The emerging science and practice of invertebrate conservation Symposium. March 25-26, 2004. American Museum of Natural History Center for Biodiversity and Conservation.

AUSTRALIAN ORCHID POLLINATION ECOLOGY

I have begun a new project on one of the most exciting groups of orchids in the world. I have collected sex pheromones from pollinating Zaspilothynnus nigripes and Macrothynnus wasps and sexually deceptive Drakaea glyptodon orchids. Stand by for more on this exciting project in the future!

MELOE NATURAL HISTORY
Mandy Heddle and I found two new Pedilus species association records for Meloe strigulosus just above UC Berkeley's campus and published the paper below:

L. S. Saul-Gershenz, M. L. Heddle. 2004. New Records of Pedilus (Coleoptera: Pyrochroidae) on Meloe strigulosus Mannerheim (COLEOPTERA: MELOIDAE. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 80(1-4):18-22.

Selected Publications

Saul-Gershenz, L.S., Millar, J. G. 2006. Phoretic nest parasites use sexual deception to obtain transport to their host's nest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103:14039-14044

Saul-Gershenz, L. In preparation. Natural history of Meloe franciscanus at Kelso Dunes.

Saul-Gershenz, L. In review. Natural history of the solitary bee, Habropoda pallida at Kelso Dunes.

Saul-Gershenz, L. In preparation. The phenology and invertebrate fauna of Astragalus lentiginosus var. borreganus at Kelo Dunes in the Mojave Desert.

Saul-Gershenz L. S., Heddle M. L. 2004. New Records of Pedilus (Coleoptera: Pyrochroidae) on Meloe strigulosus Mannerheim (COLEOPTERA: MELOIDAE. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 80 (1-4): 18-22.

Saul-Gershenz, L., Fiedler, P. L., Barlow , M., Rokich D. 2004. Pollinator assemblage of the endangered plant Cordylanthus palmatus at Springtown Wetlands Reserve, Livermore, California. Poster. Expanding the Ark: The Emerging Science and Practice of Invertebrate Conservation Symposium. March, 2004. American Museum of Natural History Center for Biodiversity and Conservation.

Saul-Gershenz, L. 2009. Insect Zoos. Encyclopedia of Insects. Eds. V. Resh and R. Cardé. Academic Press, Berkeley, California. 2nd Edition.

Saul-Gershenz, L Hafernik, J. 2000. Beetle larvae cooperate to mimic bees. Nature, 405:35

Saul-Gershenz, L. 2000. "Pollination Partners: the chemical attraction between plants and insects." California Native Plant Society. May-June, website and newsletter.

Saul-Gershenz, L., Hafernik, J. 1999. Bees, beetles, and plants: the importance of ecological interactions to conservation and restoration efforts. Mojave Desert Science Symposium. Available from: USGS, Western Ecological Res Center. Sacramento, California.

Gershenz, N. and Saul-Gershenz, L. 1998. If I ran the Zoo I'd Get Into In-situ. AZA Western Regional Conference Proceedings. Monterey, CA.

Saul-Gershenz, L., Mark Scriber, and R. Arnold. 1995. "Design of Captive Environments for Invertebrates". In Conservation of Endangered Species in Captivity: An Interdisciplinary Approach. SUNY Stonybrook Press. pp. 51-71.

Saul-Gershenz, L. 1996. Management of Terrestrial Arthropod Exhibits. Terrestrial Invertebrate Taxon Advisory Group Workshop Agenda. AAZPA Western Regional Conference, Denver, May 19, 1996.

Saul-Gershenz, L. 1996. Laboratory culture techniques for the Goliath tarantula Theraphosa blondi (Latreille, 1804) and the Mexican red knee tarantula, Brachypelma smithi (Araneae: Theraphosidae). AAZPA Annual Conference Proceedings: pp. 3-7.

Saul-Gershenz, L. 1993. Notes on the captive life history of the carnivorous katydid, Lirometopum coronatum Scudder (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) from Costa Rica. American Zoologist, 33:139-143. American Zoologist, 33:139-143.

Fiedler, Peggy, Robert A. Leidy, Richard D. Laven, Norman Gershenz and Leslie Saul. 1993. The Contemporary Paradigm in Ecology and its Implications for Endangered Species Conservation. Endangered Species Update. University of Michigan. Vol 10, Nos. 3 & 4:7-12.

Saul-Gershenz, L. 1992. Species Selection and Culture of Beetles (Coleoptera) for Public Educational Exhibit: A Brief Overview. Proceedings of the AAZPA Annual Conference.

Saul-Gershenz, L. 1992. Captive Husbandry of Selected Species of Orthoptera for Public Exhibit. Proceedings of the AAZPA, Western Regional Conference. pp. 280-287.

Saul, L. 1991. Conservation Strategies for Invertebrates: Thirty Million to Choose From. AAZPA, Annual Conference Proceedings. pp. 314-320.

Saul-Gershenz, L., R. Thorp. In preparation. The function of hair baskets in Osmia glauca (Megachilidae).

All images on LSaul.com are copyright of Leslie Saul-Gershenz 1990-2004 and may not be reproduced or used without permission. For use of images, please contact me for licensing and fees at: .

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