Richard Merrill

Prof. Dr. Richard Merrill is an evolutionary biologist at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich), leading the Emmy Noether Group for Behaviour and Speciation. His research focuses on the ecological, genetic, and developmental basis of adaptive behaviors contributing to speciation.

• Key Research Areas: Behavioral genetics, sensory ecology, Müllerian mimicry, neural divergence in speciation, and ecological specialization.
• Model Organism: Heliconius butterflies, with studies spanning their warning coloration, mate recognition cues, and genomic mechanisms.

The group combines fieldwork in tropical ecosystems with genomic and genetic techniques to dissect the molecular basis of preference behaviors. Recent publications highlight work on sensory integration, visual system evolution, and hybridization dynamics in Heliconius species.

Awards:

• DFG Emmy Noether Program funding recipient

Contact: merrill@bio.lmu.de