Agricultural and Life Sciences (IFAS)
Lucky Lab
Led by Andrea Lucky · Entomology and Nematology
What we study
The Lucky Lab studies ant evolution and biodiversity using tools like insect morphology, molecular genetics, and citizen science. They also focus on making science accessible to non-scientists.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Computational
- Fieldwork
- Other insects
- Coding helps
- Project
- 1
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Project Taxonomic revision of Nylanderia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from The Galápagos Islands
The project revises the classification of Nylanderia ants on the Galápagos Islands. Students will examine ant morphology, map species distributions, and create a key and images to help identify native and invasive species for conservation efforts.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 447
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Nylanderia coveri LaPolla & Kallal 2019
2026
Describes the ant species Nylanderia coveri, found in Grenada, with details on its collection and location.
- The Nylanderia fauna of Vietnam: a morphological and phylogenomic revision (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
2026 · Insect Systematics and Diversity
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- Size-complexity relationships of ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) assemblages across an invaded region: a conceptual framework for sociometric trait analysis of eusocial insect invasions
2026 · Österreichische Gesellschaft für Entomofaunistik (OEGEF)
- Plant invasion overrides drought in suppressing arthropod abundance and richness
2026 · Oikos
Finds that invasive plants reduce arthropod diversity more than drought in pine forests.
- Taxonomic revision of the Nylanderia guatemalensis species complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Neotropics, with implications for conservation and invasion biology
2026 · Zootaxa
Revises the taxonomy of the Nylanderia guatemalensis ant species complex to improve conservation efforts.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Andrea Lucky hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.