In the beginning of December 2018, Fulbright ASEAN Research Scholar David J. Lohman, an Assistant Professor of Biology at the City College of New York currently working at the National Museum of Natural History, Manila, Philippines, had the opportunity to visit Dr. Houshuai Wang and Prof. Min Wang at South China Agricultural University. Prof. Lohman uses DNA sequence data to study the evolution and biogeography of butterflies in Southeast Asia, and his Chinese colleagues use similar techniques to study China’s butterfly fauna.

After a research presentation to over 60 students and faculty, Prof. Lohman and his Chinese colleagues discussed the details of a nascent collaboration on the evolution of Neptini butterflies as part of the global ButterflyNet team (butterflynet.org), which Prof. Lohman leads. Later, the team discussed possible future projects, including genomic investigations of speciation and adaptation on islands and high elevation sites. Potential funding sources for future collaborative research were identified, and Prof. Lohman was able to see the considerable specimen collections in their newly renovated storage facilities.