UC Davis Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology: Meet Kaitai Liu

Back in 2011, three UC Davis entomology faculty members launched the campuswide Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology (RSPIB) to provide "academically strong and highly motivated undergraduates with a closely mentored research experience in biology."

The three founders and directors: UC Davis Distinguished Professor Jay Rosenheim, an insect ecologist (now emeritus as of June 2024); Professor Louie Yang, a community ecologist; and Professor Joanna Chiu, molecular geneticist and physiologist, and now chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology.

"Our goal is to develop a long-term mentoring relationship for students, to extend until the completion of the undergraduate program (usually 2 to 3 years)," Rosenheim said.

They are and they have. The success stories are amazing.

Meet Kaitai Liu, an outstanding entomology major, scholar, researcher, and volunteer. He is as dedicated to insect science as he is passionate.

As a RSPIB scholar, Kaitai joined the arachnid and systematics lab of Professor Jason Bond, who triples as the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the Department of Entomology and Nematology; director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology; and associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. The Bond lab motto: "Studying arthropod diversity to inspire appreciation for life on Earth."

It's a perfect fit.

Kaitai, born and raised in Beijing, China, and a 2021 graduate of Bejing Yuying School ("Fun fact: Gavin Newsom visited my school last year"), credits his grandfather with sparking his interest in insects.

"When I was about 4 or 5, my grandfather wanted to keep me away from television and video games, so he took me outside and caught me bugs like cicadas and grasshoppers to play with," Kaitai recalled. "That was how I got into the world of insects, and somehow, I became really into insects. My parents supported me after noticing my fascination with insects. They always took me to the mountains to collect insects and observe nature, and they encouraged me to learn from books and the Internet. Jean-Henri Casmir Fabre became my childhood idol after I read his book Souvenirs entomologiques--of course, it was a Chinese children's book version--and I gradually formed the idea of becoming an entomologist like Fabre. I guess that is why I am still super interested in insect taxonomy now."

Kaitai's initial plan was to attend a university in China. "In high school, I participated in the Chinese National Biology Olympiad, known as a super difficult, highly competitive  event, and to prepare for it, I read more than 30 college-level textbooks in a year," Kaitai related.

Next: which university to study entomology?

Kaitai chose UC Davis for its highly ranked entomology program.

He's now 21 and it's been a busy three years at UC Davis.  He was recently featured in UC Davis piece on “Student Entomologists Gain Hands-on Skills in Insect Biology.” Wrote writer José Vadi: “Bond's lab matches Liu's passion--using systematics and taxonomy to describe and define new species--as well as studying the evolution of spiders and millipedes.” Kaitai holds at 3.95 GPA.

To date, Kaitai has been involved in three research projects: from millipedes to turret spiders to the California Insect Biodiversity and Barcode Project, the latter part of Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order on climate change to document all insect life in California:

• Investigation of the skeletal musculature structure and homology of millipedes' gonopods: "The gonopod is the male millipede's copulatory organ that is derived from walking legs, which is important for species identification," Kaitai explained. "I helped construct 3D models of gonopods from micro-CT images using ITK-SNAP and then compared and homologized the structure of the sclerites and muscles in different millipede groups using 3D visualizations."
  
  
• Evaluation of morphological variations and population structure in Atypoides riversii, commonly known as the California turret spider. "It's an endemic mygalomorph spider to northern and central California. Phylogeographic studies show that A. riversi is separated into multiple parapatric and allopatrically distributed populations, indicating that A. riversi is a species complex. My job was to generate somatic morphological data (length and width of the head, length of legs, etc.) from female specimens from different populations using a dissecting microscope equipped with Analysis Suite Software. Then, we applied Principal Component Analysis to a continuous variable dataset to evaluate morphological divergence in light of the species tree."
  
  
• California Insect Biodiversity and Barcode Project: This state-funded, collaborative project with the Bond lab and the Bohart Museum, aims to document all the insect species throughout California. "My job is to select specimens collected in California from the Bohart Museum of Entomology collection based on their quality and age, then confirm the identification and the validity of the scientific name of the specimens. I also relocate and correct misidentified specimens and outdated names. Lastly, I capture a series of images of the specimens using the Giga-Macro imaging system and stack the images with the Zerene Stacker." To date, he has prepared more than 700 specimens for the project. Next step: to collect tissues from the specimens and preserve them for DNA extraction and sequencing.

Future plans? Obtain a doctorate in entomology, become a professor, and specialize in rain beetles.

"I want to study rain beetles (genus Pleocoma, family Pleocomidae) for my PhD," Kaitai said. "There are about 25 species of rain beetles and they are only found in North America. There are about 18 endemic species in California. I want to study them because each species is highly restricted in a certain geographical range, and they only emerge in the winter after rain. The females are flightless. All these features indicate that there might be cryptic species within these named species. I want to study their phylogenetic relationship, speciation, and phenology in response to climate change since they highly rely on rain."

His primary activities at UC Davis focus on insects. A core member of the UC Davis Entomology Club, he has participated in multiple camping and collecting trips, including three collecting trips to Arizona. He helps plan the itinerary, and "I organize, drive and cook." In the meantime, he has built a large personal insect collection. "I spent a lot of my free time looking for bugs on campus and around Davis."

Kaitai also participates in the annual UC Davis Picnic Day Parade with fellow members, and loves to introduce the public to insects. This year during the Picnic Day entomological activities at Briggs Hall, he taught visitors how to use an insect net.

With his passion for entomology comes his passion for volunteerism. At the Bohart Museum of Entomology open houses, he enjoys introducing everyone--from toddlers to senior citizens--to the live petting zoo, which includes Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas.

"It is a really cool experience," Kaitai said of helping out at the Bohart Museum open houses. "I feel like this is a way to contribute to entomology. I like to see people overcome their entomophobia after learning about insects, and it makes me happy when I see people eager to learn about insects."