Hojun Song, Department of Entomology, Texas A & M University, will speak online at the Cambridge Entomological Club December meeting on December 8 at 7:30 pm.

Orthoptera is the most diverse order within Polyneoptera with more than 28,000 species known worldwide, and includes familiar insects, such as grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids.  Throughout 350 million years of evolution, orthopteran insects have diversified into numerous lineages that occupy every conceivable terrestrial habitat outside the polar regions and play integral roles in their ecosystems. Such diversity in form and function has attracted researchers who use these insects as model systems for studying anatomy, bioacoustics, chemical ecology, evolutionary ecology, life‐history traits, neurobiology, physiology, and speciation.

Hojun Song grew up in South Korea, wanting to become an entomologist since his childhood. He moved to the U.S. in 1994, and received his bachelor’s degree in entomology from Cornell University in 2000. He moved to the Ohio State University, and received his M.S. (2002) and Ph.D. (2006) in entomology. Dr. Song then moved to Brigham Young University for post doctorial work, and in 2010 Dr. Song joined the Department of Biology at the University of Central Florida as an assistant professo. In 2015, he relocated to the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University, where he is currently an associate professor.