People

Dr. Brian L. Fisher
Curator
bfisher [at] calacademy [dot] org
Brian's research focuses on exploring the diversity of ants on earth and ensure these results are available and used immediately for conservation action.

I created the annual Ant Course in 2001 (16 courses in 9 countries, 452 students from 53 countries), AntWeb.org in 2002 (world's largest online database on ants), and the Madagascar Biodiversity Center in 2004 (Museum in Antananarivo dedicated to biodiversity, conservation and education).

Postdoctoral Fellows

Dr. Flavia Esteves
Post Doc 2012 - Present
Flavia is working on the taxonomy of Stigmatomma, Discothyrea, and Lioponera in the Malagasy region is an active contributor to the AntCat project.

Sebastian Salata
Post Doc 2019- Present
Revision of Pheidole in the Malagasy region

Dr. Gabi Camacho
Post Doc 2018 - Present
Gabi is leading the UCE phylogenetic component of the NSF funded Madagascar Microendemism project with Bonnie Blaimer (NCSU).

Dr. Carol Loss
Post Doc 2018 - Present
Carol is leading the spatial analysis component of the NSF funded Madagascar Microendemism project with Bonnie Blaimer (NCSU).

Dr. Sándor Csősz
Schlinger Post Doc 2014-2016
Sándor is researching Aphaenogaster, Ponera, and Lioponera in the Malagasy region and developing new methods to incorporate morphological data in taxonomic revisions.

Graduate Students

Jayanthi Puniamoorthy
Graduate Student at San Francisco State University
Jayanthi is now back in Singapore and taking a break from her studies

Dimby Raharinjanahary
PhD student at the University of Antananarivo. Also Madagascar coordinator for the Insect Biome Atlas project

Andrianjaka Ravelomanan
Postdoctoral researcher at the Madagascar Biodiversity Center in Antananarivo.

Ant Lab Research Assistants

Michele Esposito
Lab Manager and Curatorial Assistant
Michele manages lab activities and is team leader for AntWeb imaging and specimen digitization projects.

Mark Johnson
AntWeb engineer

Jessica Huppi
Digital Artist
Jessica is creating the line drawings and maps for the Ant Genera of the world series. Jessica and Michele work together to make all we do look good.

Zach Lieberman
Imaging Specialist
Zach was part of AntWeb's World Imaging tour and spent time at the largest ant collections in Europe and is now going to Marin College.

Ant Lab Associates

Dr. Eli Sarnat
Research Associate
Eli Sarnat frequents our lab to work on Fiji Ants and the taxonomy and identification of invasive ants. He is currently working on a key to all introduced Pheidole species. Check out his work at;

Dr. Rick Overson
Rick is working on a taxonomic revision of Prionopelta of Malagasy region. He is currently Postdoctoral Researcher at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Former student and Postdocs

Dr. Yoshimura Masashi
Former Postdoc at CAS where he pioneered male based ant systematics. He is now a Researcher with Evan Economo at OIST, Japan.

Dr. Georg Fischer
Former Postdoc at CAS where he worked on the Pheidole of the Malagasy region. He is now a Postdoc with Evan Economo at OIST, Japan working on the global phylogeny of Pheidole.

Dr. Paco Hita Garcia
Former Postdoc at CAS where he worked on the Tetramorium of the Malagasy region. He is now a Postdoc with Evan Economo at OIST, Japan working on the global phylogeny of Tetramorium. Starting in January 2015, he will start his new position as Curator at Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Germany

Dr. Jean Claude Rakotonirina
Former MS student at SFSU and PhD student at the University of Antananarivo. He is now a researcher at the Madagascar Biodiversity Center

Dr. Corrie Moreau
Former MS student
Corrie went on to do her PhD at Harvard and is now curator and acclaimed scientist at the Field Museum: Moreau Lab

Gary Ouellette
Former MS Student at Sonoma State. Gary is now at the the USDA Systematic Entomology Laboratory, Beltsville, MD. United States Department of Agriculture