Brian Wiegmann

About

Brian Wiegmann is the William Neal Reynolds Professor of Entomology at North Carolina State University. His research focuses on molecular biosystematics, inferring phylogenetic relationships, and testing hypotheses about the evolution and diversification of insects, with a major emphasis on the insect order Diptera (true flies). His work involves reconstructing the family-level phylogeny of Diptera, uncovering patterns and processes of DNA sequence evolution, and interpreting morphological and developmental evolutionary pathways. Wiegmann's research aims to understand the origin and evolutionary effects of specific adaptations in morphology, behavior, and physiology of flies, utilizing large comparative genome datasets funded by agencies such as the NSF and USDA. His studies include investigating the evolution of blood feeding, disease transmission, habitat use in mosquitoes, and the evolution of parasitism in blow flies, among others. As part of the NCSU Entomology Graduate Program, he provides training in biosystematic research, preparing students for careers in research, education, or administration in entomology. His work employs comparative genomics and genetic data analysis to reconstruct the evolutionary history of flies, including the use of transcriptomes and exon capture methods to understand major events in fly evolution.

Research topics

• Genetics
• Biology
• Evolutionary biology
• Zoology
• Ecology

Selected publications

• Phylogenomics reveals the history of host use in mosquitoes

  Nature Communications · 2023 · 76 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Mosquitoes have profoundly affected human history and continue to threaten human health through the transmission of a diverse array of pathogens. The phylogeny of mosquitoes has remained poorly characterized due to difficulty in taxonomic sampling and limited availability of genomic data beyond the most important vector species. Here, we used phylogenomic analysis of 709 single copy ortholog groups from 256 mosquito species to produce a strongly supported phylogeny that resolves the position of…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Beyond Drosophila: resolving the rapid radiation of schizophoran flies with phylotranscriptomics

  BMC Biology · 2021 · 64 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: The most species-rich radiation of animal life in the 66 million years following the Cretaceous extinction event is that of schizophoran flies: a third of fly diversity including Drosophila fruit fly model organisms, house flies, forensic blow flies, agricultural pest flies, and many other well and poorly known true flies. Rapid diversification has hindered previous attempts to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships among major schizophoran clades. A robust phylogenetic hypothesis…

  DOI

• Towards a new classification of Muscidae (Diptera): a comparison of hypotheses based on multiple molecular phylogenetic approaches

  Systematic Entomology · 2021 · 34 citations

  Abstract Muscidae are a megadiverse dipteran family that exhibits extraordinary diversity in morphology and life history as both immatures and adults. The classification of Muscidae has been long debated, and most higher‐level relationships remain unknown. In this study, we used multilocus Sanger sequencing (mS‐seq), anchored hybrid enrichment (AHE) and restriction‐site associated DNA sequencing (RAD‐seq) approaches to examine relationships within Muscidae. The results from AHE and RAD‐seq large…

  DOI

• The phylogeny and divergence times of leaf-mining flies (Diptera: Agromyzidae) from anchored phylogenomics

  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution · 2023-04-06 · 9 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Anchored phylogenomics and revised classification of the Miltogramminae (Diptera: Sarcophagidae)

  Systematic Entomology · 2023-10-10 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The Miltogramminae (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) includes ~600 species across >40 genera, which constitute ~20% of global Sarcophagidae. While molecular phylogenetic hypotheses have been produced for this group, critical problems persist, including the presence of paraphyletic genera, uncertain relationships between genera, a bias of sampling towards Palaearctic taxa, and low support for many branches. The present study remedies these issues through the application of Anchored Hybrid Enri…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Sexual Characters and Diversification in Empidine Dance Flies (Diptera: Empididae: Empidinae)

  NSF · $480k · 2009–2013

• AToL: Building the Dipteran Tree: Cooperative Research in Phylogenetics and Bioinformatics of True Flies (Insecta: Diptera)

  NSF · $2.4M · 2004–2009

• Taxonomic, Phylogenetic, and Evolutionary Studies of Horse flies (Diptera:Tabanidae): An Integrated Approach to Systematics Training

  NSF · $743k · 2007–2013

Frequent coauthors

• Lars S. Jermiin

  University College Dublin

  758 shared

• Thomas R. Buckley

  Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research

  757 shared

• John Trueman

  Australian National University

  755 shared

• Karen Cranston

  University Health Network

  755 shared

• Frédéric Delsuc

  Université de Montpellier

  754 shared

• Brian C. O’Meara

  754 shared

• Hélène Morlon

  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

  754 shared

• Timothy G. Barraclough

  University of Oxford

  754 shared

Labs

• Structural Pest Management Training & Research FacilityPI

Awards & honors

• William Neal Reynolds Professor of Entomology

Similar researchers at North Carolina State University

• Coby Schalh-60
• Peter Balint-Kurtih-60
• Ignazio Carboneh-51