Dr Ryan Shofner

Dr Ryan Shofner manages the Life and Geosciences barcoding team at Australian Museum. The team's goal is to attach barcodes to every specimen and object held in the Life and Geosciences collections. Barcoding the collections enables curators, staff, and volunteers to track the movement and locations of specimens quickly and accurately across the Australian Museum complex.

Ryan's research interests include the systematics, phylogenetics, and taxonomy of lace bugs (Hemiptera: Tingidae), focusing on Australian species. Ryan also conducts research into the population genetics of insects. Past projects included assessing the gene flow between populations of a pest species of lace bug on macadamias, and assessing the impact of the 2019/2020 wildfires on the genetic diversity of dung beetles.

• Doctor of Philosophy in Biological Sciences, UNSW Sydney. Thesis: “Taxonomy and phylogenetics of the genus Ulonemia Drake and Poor, 1937 (Heteroptera: Tingidae), with an emphasis on the population genetics of a pestiferous species”.
• Master of Science in Biology, Fort Hays State University. Thesis: “Life history of a dune-dwelling rhaphidophorid, Utabaenetes tanneri Tinkham, in the San Rafael Desert of Utah”.
• Bachelor of Science in Conservation Biology and Biodiversity, Fort Hays State University.

• Shofner R, and G Cassis. In Press. Phylogenetics and taxonomy of the Indo-Australian genus Ulonemia sensu Drake (Hemiptera: Tingidae), with the recognition of new genera and species collected from Proteaceae in Australia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad080
• Shofner R, W Sherwin, C Reid, A Runagall-McNaull, G Cassis, and S Laffan. Preprint. Genetic diversity of a flightless dung beetle appears unaffected by wildfire. Journal of Insect Conservation. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2392183/v1
• Cassis, G, P Koenig, C Symonds, R Shofner. 2017. Systematics and host plant associations of the Australian lace bug genus Nethersia (Insecta: Heteroptera: Tingidae), including the description of eighteen new species. Insect Systematics & Evolution 48(1): 1-95. https://doi.org/10.1163/1876312X-47052151