Perry G. Beasley-Hall

University of Adelaide · Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Adaptation to life in caves is often accompanied by dramatically convergent changes across distantly related taxa, epitomized by the loss or reduction of eyes and pigmentation. Nevertheless, the genomic underpinnings underlying cave-related phenotypes are largely unexplored from a macroevolutionary perspective. Here we investigate genome-wide gene...

The Great Artesian Basin of Australia represents one of the largest and deepest basins of freshwater on Earth. Thousands of springs fed by the Basin are scattered across Australia’s arid zone, often representing the sole sources of freshwater for thousands of kilometers. As “islands” in the desert, the springs support endemic fauna and flora that h...

Chemical cues in subterranean habitats differ highly from those on the surface due to the contrasting environmental conditions, such as absolute darkness, high humidity or food scarcity. Subterranean animals underwent changes to their sensory systems to facilitate the perception of essential stimuli for underground lifestyles. Despite representing...

Adaptation to life in caves is often accompanied by dramatically convergent changes across distantly related taxa, epitomized by the loss or reduction of eyes and pigmentation. Nevertheless, the genomic underpinnings underlying the evolution of cave-related phenotypes are largely unexplored. We investigated genome-wide gene evolutionary dynamics in...

Subterranean habitats are generally very stable environments, and as such evolutionary transitions of organisms from surface to subterranean lifestyles may cause considerable shifts in physiology, particularly with respect to thermal tolerance. In this study we compared responses to heat shock at the molecular level in a geographically widespread,...

Austrocarausius Brock, 2000 is a stick insect (Phasmatodea: Lonchodidae) genus containing two species restricted to the tropical rainforests of northern Queensland. Recent specimen collections between the two species’ type localities, Lizard Island and Rockhampton, have suggested that Austrocarausius might represent more than the two nominal specie...

Subterranean habitats are generally very stable environments, and as such evolutionary transitions of organisms from surface to subterranean lifestyles may cause considerable shifts in physiology, particularly with respect to thermal tolerance. In this study we compared responses to heat shock at the molecular level in a geographically widespread,...

Subterranean specialization is often accompanied by dramatic phenotypic changes epitomized by regressive evolution (e.g. loss or reduction of eyes and pigmentation). Nevertheless, the genetic underpinnings underlying these changes have been largely unexplored. The beetle tribes Leptodirini (Leiodidae), Hydroporini and Bidessini (Dytiscidae) represe...

Subterranean realms possess high environmental stability with respect to light levels, temperature, and humidity. The transition to a subterranean lifestyle can therefore cause massive shifts in a species’ biology. How does the colonisation of these habitats affect the thermal tolerance of an organism? Past studies demonstrate species in extremely...

In the framework of neutral theory of molecular evolution, genes specific to the development and function of eyes in subterranean animals living in permanent darkness are expected to evolve by relaxed selection, ultimately becoming pseudogenes. However, definitive empirical evidence for the role of neutral processes in the loss of vision over evolu...

As the global biodiversity crisis deepens, with increasing habitat fragmentation and a changing climate, innovative options for conserving species are being explored. One such conservation action is genetic rescue: introduction of new alleles to promote population fitness. However, for critically endangered species where only one viable population...

Soil‐burrowing cockroaches (Blaberidae: Geoscapheinae) are large insects endemic to Australia. Originally thought to represent a monophyletic group, these enigmatic species have in fact evolved burrowing behaviour, associated fossorial morphological modifications, and dietary transitions to dry leaf litter feeding multiple times from the wood‐feedi...

An iconic group of arid‐adapted insects is the Australian soil‐burrowing cockroaches (Blaberidae: Geoscapheinae), large, wingless insects that evolved burrowing behaviour and associated forms in parallel from wood feeding ancestors in the subfamily Panesthiinae. A particularly problematic taxon within the Geoscapheinae is Geoscapheus dilatatus (Sau...

Termite mounds have intrigued humans for millennia. Despite great interest in their beautiful and often complex structures, the question of why termites acquired mound-building behaviour has received little attention. Here, we focus on two Australian lineages of the Nasutitermitinae (composed primarily of Nasutitermes and Tumulitermes spp.), which...

Aim: The ways in which abiotic factors contribute to parallel evolution—the evolution of similar, derived phenotypes in independent, closely related lineages—remain understudied. Australian cockroaches of the subfamilies Panesthiinae (“wood feeders”) and Geoscapheinae (“soil burrowers”) are two closely related groups that provide a striking example...

This poster was presented at the Australasian Evolution Society's 2017 conference and can be viewed on Figshare using the associated DOI. The dataset has since been published: Beasley-Hall, P. G., Lee, T. R. C., Rose, H. A., Lo, N. (2018). Multiple abiotic factors correlate with parallel evolution in Australian soil burrowing cockroaches. Journal...