Nikolai Kandul

Education

2005 Ph.D. (Biology) Harvard University, MA, USA

1997 M.S. (Entomology) St. Petersburg State University, Russia

1995 B.S. (Zoology) St. Petersburg State University, Russia

Grants and Awards

2006 George Hargitt Fellowship (Duke University)

2003-2005 Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (NSF)

2005 Robert G. Goelet summer research award (MCZ, Harvard University)

2005 Derek Bok Award for Highest Distinction in Teaching
(Harvard University)

2000-2004 George Putnam Expeditionary Awards (MCZ, Harvard University)

Research Interests

I am interested in speciation. Two speciation mechanisms are of particular interest to me: chromosomal speciation and reinforcement. I have used the blue butterflies from the genus Agrodiaetus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) as a model system to study both mechanisms.

Publications

Kandul, N. P., V. A. Lukhtanov and N. E. Pierce (in press) Karyotypic diversity and speciation in Agrodiaetus butterflies. Evolution

Kandul, N. P., K. M. Wright, E. V. Kandul and M. A. F. Noor (2006) No evidence for learned mating discrimination in male Drosophila pseudoobscura. BMC Evolutionary Biology 6: 54.

Lukhtanov, V. A., R. Vila and N. P. Kandul (2006) Rearangement of the Agrodiaetus dolus species group (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) using a new cytological approach and molecular data. Insect Systematics and Evolution 37: 325-334.

Lukhtanov*, V. A., N. P. Kandul*, J. Plotkin, A. V. Dantchenko, D. Haig and N. E. Pierce (2005) Reinforcement of pre-zygotic isolation and karyotype diversification in Agrodiaetus blue butterflies. Nature 436: 385–389. (* These authors contributed equally to this work.) [pdf]

Als, T. D., R. Vila, N. P. Kandul, D. R. Nash, S.-H. Yen, Y.-F. Hsu, A. A. Mignault, J. J. Boomsma and N. E. Pierce (2004) The evolution of alternative parasitic life histories in Large Blue butterflies. Nature 432: 387–390. [pdf]

Kandul, N. P., V. A. Lukhtanov, A. V. Dantchenko, J. W. S. Coleman, C. H. Sekercioglu, David Haig and N. E. Pierce (2004) Phylogeny of Agrodiaetus Hübner 1822 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) inferred from mtDNA sequences of COI and COII, and nuclear sequences of EF1-?: karyotype diversification and species radiation. Systematic biology 53: 278–298 [pdf]

Lukhtanov, V. A., N. P. Kandul, W. O. de Prins and D. van der Poorten (1998) Karyology of certain species in the subgenus Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus Hübner, [1822]) from Turkey: new data and their taxonomic consequences (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Holarctic Lepidoptera 5(1): 1–8.

Kandul, N. P and V. A.Lukhtanov (1997) Karyotype variability and systematics of blue butterflies of the species group Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) poseidon and P. (A.) dama (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). Zoologicheskii Zhurnal 76(1): 63–69. (in Russian)

Lukhtanov, V. A., A. V. Dantchenko and N. P. Kandul (1997) Die karyotypen von Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damone damone und P.(A.) damocles rossicus nebst einigen problemen bei Agrodiaetus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Nachrichten des entomologischen Vereins Apollo, Suppl. 16: 43–48.

Kandul, N. P. (1997) The karyology and the taxonomy of the blue butterflies of the genus Agrodiaetus Hübner, [1822] from the Crimea (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Atalanta 28(1-2): 111–119.

Lukhtanov, V. A., V. V. Zolothuhin, N. A. Beliakova, U. Eitschberger and N. P. Kandul (1994) Die karyologische und morphologische Begrundung der Artselbstandigkeit von Euproctis kogistana spec. nov. aus Tadschikistan (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae). Atalanta 25(3/4): 543–557, 624–625.