Benjamin Normark

Benjamin Normark is a Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, affiliated with the Department of Biology and the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (OEB) program. His primary research focuses on evolutionary biology, systematics, and the ecology of armored scale insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae). Normark holds a BA from Yale University (1985) and a PhD from Cornell University (1994).

His research interests include the phylogenetics of armored scale insects, the evolution of maternally transmitted endosymbiotic bacteria, haplodiploidy mechanisms, and genetic conflict in insect reproduction. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in tropical regions, including Panama, Argentina, and Gabon, to study scale insect biodiversity and host-plant relationships.

Normark has contributed to projects such as the NSF-funded digitization of tri-trophic associations between plants, herbivores, and parasitoids. His work bridges taxonomy, molecular phylogenetics, and ecological theory, with a focus on understanding adaptation, speciation, and the evolutionary drivers of host-use specificity in insects.

He maintains an active lab group in Fernald Hall and collaborates internationally on projects related to invasive species management and biodiversity conservation. His research has been published in top entomological journals, and he serves on editorial boards for evolutionary biology and systematics.