Our lab has had an amazing year, and we’re proud of the research and personal achievements from our group members. While it’s impossible to list every incredible moment, here are some highlights from 2025: 

• Dr. Perry Beasley Hall and Dr. Danielle Stringer received ABRS grants to fund their research on taxonomy and systematics. 
• Dr. Brock Hedges started a JSPS Research fellowship in Japan researching the effects of climate change on freshwater mussels. 
• Liv Portman and Kelly Summers graduated with Honours. 
• Dr. Elisabeth Williamson and Dr. Alana McClelland earned their PhDs.
• The many outstanding talks delivered at national and international conferences by our HDR students: 
  • Tareva-Chine Atkins-Zaldivar and Nicole Fechner spoke at the Society of Australian Systematic Biologists online symposium 
  • Mollie Slater-Baker and Olivia Portmann spoke at Hymathon, the International Society of Hymenopterists online symposium  
  • Kudzaishe Precious Mavende and Nicole Fechner spoke at the Australian Entomological Society Conference 
  • Milad Khosravi spoke at the Australian Ecology Society Conference
  • Jake Thornhill spoke at the International Association of Hydrogeologists Conference 
  • Charlie Lassaline spoke at the International Congress for Conservation Biology
• Kantine Liu completed a successful internship at the Department of Energy and Water. 
• Dr. Jess Marsh received an ARC industry fellowship for work on cave invertebrates. 
• Dr. Erinn Fagan-Jeffries received a Bush Blitz Tactical Taxonomy grant to fund the description of new species from recent expeditions.
• Several HDR students travelled to the phylogenetic workshop in Sydney, visited multiple interstate museum collections, and conducted successful field work.
• And lastly, the many hours of work invested into writing up our research findings, and the resulting publications: 

Slater-Baker, M. R., Guzik, M., Rodriguez, J., Howe, A., Woodward, A., Ducker, N., & Fagan-Jeffries, E. (2025). Three new species of Australian miracine parasitoid wasps collected by regional schools as part of the Insect Investigators citizen science project. Journal of Hymenoptera Research, 98(4), 19–45.

Slater-Baker, M. R., Fagan-Jeffries, E. P., Oestmann, K. J., Portmann, O. G., Bament, T. M., Howe, A. G., Guzik, M. T., Bradford, T. M., McClelland, A. R., Woodward, A., & Clarke, S. (2025). DNA barcoding, integrative taxonomy, citizen science, and Bush Blitz surveys combine to reveal 34 new species of Apanteles (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) in Australia. ZooKeys, 1227, 1-128. 

Lassaline, C. R., Toomes, A., Fagan-Jeffries, E., & Cassey, P. (2025). From forest floor to market door: The global terrestrial invertebrate trade. Biological Conservation, 308, 111266.

Hedges, B. A., Beasley-Hall, P. G., Dorey, J. B., Weinstein, P., Austin, A. D., & Guzik, M. T. (2025). Environmental DNA reveals temporal and spatial variability of invertebrate communities in arid-lands ephemeral water bodies. Marine and Freshwater Research, 76(18), MF24243.

Fagan-Jeffries, E. P., Davies, E., & Howe, A. G. (2025). Cotesia ginginensis sp. nov., a new species of parasitoid wasp (Braconidae: Microgastrinae) from Queensland, Australia. Zootaxa, 5660(2), 293–296.

Stringer, D. N., King, R. A., Austin, A. D., & Guzik, M. T. (2025). An elusive new genus and species of subterranean amphipod (Hadzioidea: Eriopisidae) from Barrow Island, Western Australia. Diversity, 17(2), 84. 

Guzik, M. T., Stringer, D. N., Thornhill, J., Coates, P. J., Van der Heyde, M., Hillyer, M. J., White, N. E., Saccò, M., Beasley-Hall, P. G., Humphreys, W. F., & Harvey, M. S. (2025). What are the best practices for curating eDNA custom barcode reference libraries? A case study using Australian subterranean fauna. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 146(1), blaf053.

Williamson, E., Prendergast, K., Leijs, R., & Hogendoorn, K. (2025). The life cycle, nesting behaviour and diet of resin bee Megachile tosticauda (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Austral Entomology, 64(1), e12726.

Williamson, E., Hill, K., Hogendoorn, K., & Eisenhofer, R. (2025). The bacterial community associated with the solitary resin bee Megachile tosticauda throughout its life cycle. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 101(4), fiaf023.

Williamson, E. M., Hammer, T. J., Hogendoorn, K., & Eisenhofer, R. (2025). Blanking on blanks: Few insect microbiota studies control for contaminants. mBio, 16(4), e02658–24. 

Beasley-Hall, P. G., Trewick, S. A., Eberhard, S. M., Zwick, A., Reed, E. H., Cooper, S. J., & Austin, A. D. (2025). Molecular phylogenetics illuminates the evolutionary history and hidden diversity of Australian cave crickets (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae). Systematic Entomology.

Beasley-Hall, P. G., Trewick, S. A., Hedges, B. A., Cooper, S. J., Reed, E. H., & Austin, A. D. (2025). Integrative taxonomic revision of the Australian cave cricket Speleotettix Chopard, 1944 (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae): New species, distribution and conservation implications. Austral Entomology, 64(3), e70011.

Beasley-Hall, P. G., & Eberhard, S. M. (2025). Diversity and distribution of cave crickets in the genus Micropathus Walker, 1869, threatened short-range endemics from Tasmanian wet forest (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae). European Journal of Taxonomy, 1012, 239–267. 

We hope everyone enjoys a fun and restorative Christmas and New Year’s break, and look forward to what 2026 has in store – including the addition of new students and post docs. 

Happy holidays!