The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology awarded a $1,200,000 Project Grant under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc. (UGA Research Foundation). This 4-year grant will fund a project to document the diversity of South American fireflies, a poorly understood group of beetles.
The key objectives are to: discover new firefly species, reveal their evolutionary relationships, and create tools to facilitate future research. The project will use museum specimens and newly collected material from Brazil and Colombia to conduct phylogenetic analyses and rectify the confusing taxonomy of the Lucidota firefly genus. This will generate a rich biodiversity dataset that will be freely shared online to support future scientific studies and public education. The project will also train students in biodiversity exploration. As a subawardee, Western Carolina University will contribute expertise related to this research.