Mirian Watts

Education

• Post-Doctoral Research, Dept of Entomology, Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil, 2012-2014
• PhD., Entomology, Federal University of Parana, Brazil, 2011
• M.S., Entomology, National Institute for Amazonian Research, Brazil, 2008
  Medical Human Anatomy & Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Florida, USA, 2020
• B.S., Dept of Biology, Itajai Valley University, Brazil, 2004

Research Interests

The core of my graduate research was in the systematics of Empidinae, a cosmopolitan subfamily of Diptera (flies) with almost 4,000 described species and an equal undescribed. Empidinae is known as dance flies because they exhibit a suite of mating behaviors, which is almost unique in insects, including specialized mating swarms and presentation of insect prey to females as nuptial gifts. My research provided identification keys and descriptions to facilitate identification of these common flies; it also helped to construct a phylogenetic framework within which hypotheses on the evolution, ecology and biogeography of Empididae can be tested.

Courses

• BIOL 1150/1151 – Principles of Biology: A Human Approach
• BIOL 3030 – Principles of Physiology
• BIOL 3260 – Cell Developmental Biology