Collections Coordinator
McGuire Center for Lepidoptera & Biodiversity
Florida Museum of Natural History
3215 Hull Road, Gainesville, FL 32611-2710
352-273-2013, Email: asourakov@flmnh.ufl.edu

Additional appointments: Affiliate Associate Professor, Dept. of Entomology and Nematology

Education: Ph. D. (1997) in Entomology, University of Florida

Select Recent Publications

visit Google Scholar profile and Research Gate pages for complete list/reprints

• Zhang, J., Cong, Q., Shen, J., Song, L., Hallwachs, W., Janzen, D.H., Sourakov, A. and Grishin, N.V., 2024. What one genus of showy moths can say about migration, adaptation, and wing pattern. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(17), p.e2319726121.
• Sourakov, A., Standridge, M.J., Rossetti, K. and Daniels, J.C., 2022. Transformations of Atala: Effects of heparin on wing pattern development of the Atala Butterfly, Eumaeus atala (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Eumaeinae). Tropical Lepidoptera Research, pp.127-135.
• Chan, W.P., Rabideau Childers, R., Ashe, S., Tsai, C.C., Elson, C., Keleher, K.J., Sipe, R.L.H., Maier, C.A., Sourakov, A., Gall, L.F. and Bernard, G.D., 2022. A high-throughput multispectral imaging system for museum specimens. Communications Biology, 5(1), p.1318.
• Sourakov, A., Zhang, J., Cong, Q., Song, L. and Grishin, N.V., 2022. Erythrina stem borer moth in California–New taxonomic status and implications for control of this emerging pest. Journal of Applied Entomology.
• Sourakov, A. 2020. Emperors, admirals and giants, zebras, tigers and woolly bears: casting a broader net in exploring heparin effects on Lepidoptera wing patterns. F1000Research 7:1842.
• Sourakov, A., Doll C. F., Quinn, A. M., Xiao L., and Anderson E. 2020. On speciation and hybridization among closely related species: establishing an experimental breeding lineage between two species of Automeris …. Insecta Mundi 0797: 1-16
• Sourakov, A. & L. T. Shirai. 2020. Pharmacological and surgical experiments on wing pattern development of Lepidoptera, with a focus on the eyespots of saturniid moths. Tropical Lepidoptera Research 30(1): 4-19.
• Lukhtanov, V., Sourakov, A., Tikhonov, V., Zakharov, E., 2019. Taxonomic Rearrangement of the Erebia tyndarus Species Group (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae) Based on an Analysis of COI Barcodes, Morphology, and Geographic Distribution. Folia Biologica (Kraków), 67(4).
• Sourakov, A. & G. T. Austin. 2019. What one can learn from collecting 25,000 moths in one’s backyard during two years. News of the Lepidopterists’ Society, 61(2): 92-98.

Most cited:

Lukhtanov V. A., A. Sourakov, E. V. Zakharov, and P. D. N. Hebert, 2009. DNA barcoding Central Asian butterflies: Increasing geographical dimension does not reduce the success of species identification. Molecular Ecology Resources. 9: 1302-1310. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02577.x

Matos-Maraví, P., Águila, R.N., Peña, C., Miller, J.Y., Sourakov, A. and Wahlberg, N., 2014. Causes of endemic radiation in the Caribbean: evidence from the historical biogeography and diversification of the butterfly genus Calisto (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae: Satyrini). BMC Evolutionary Biology, 14(1), pp.1-18.

Books

Sourakov, Andrei and Alexandra A. Sourakov. 2024.The Little Book of Butterflies. Princeton University Press. 160p.

Reviews (Amazon) (Travel with Birds)

Sourakov A, Warren Chadd, R. 2022. The Lives of Moths: A Natural History of Our Planet’s Moth Life. Princeton University Press. 288p. Reviews (Amazon) (Gwent Wildlife Trust) (Royal Entomological Society) (Choice: Editor’s picks, Nov 2022)

James D, Albaugh D, Cammarata B, Field R, Greeney H, Hortsman J, Morgan S, Pittaway T, Scott JA, Sourakov A, Townsend M, Wolfe K. 2017. The Book of Caterpillars. A life-size guide to six hundred species from around the world. (James DJ, editor). Un. Chicago Pr. 656p.

6 articles, and over 100 photographs in Encyclopedia of Entomology. 2008. (Capinera, J.L., editor). Springer. 4,346p, 128 color plates.

Teaching

• “Man and Microbes” IDH2930, annually 2022-2024. (will be offered again fall 2025). Past course syllabus.
• “Insects and Plants” IDH2930/ENY4905, annually 2015-2023. (will be offered again spring 2024). Past course syllabus 
• “Individual Studies in Entomology” (arrange by e-mail)
• Visiting lecturer, many UF courses (arrange by e-mail)
• Lecturer/Scientific Leader, Florida Museum Monarch Tours (2018-2022)

Curatorial Activities

In addition to research, teaching, and popularization, my job involves collection management. The McGuire Center’s Lepidoptera collection is among the world’s largest. My work makes collection growth, digitization, and other uses possible. See for example how we digitized the Irving Finkelstein collection. As our collections grow, periodically integrating the newly donated specimens into the main collection becomes exceedingly important. Some private donated collections (e.g., made by R. Flaspohler,  E. Knudson/C. Bordelon and many others) are very large and require careful planning and securing additional funding. We often have to rely on external funding from our donors and the NSF. See for example the collection accessioning grant which we obtained for integrating the Ulf Eitschberger’s collection. If you would like to support curation and growth of our collections, please consider donating to Founding Director’s Thomas C. Emmel endowment fund.

Select outreach

Guest on the podcast “In Defense of Plants“:

1. Ep. 251 – A Florida Moth Keeping Invasive Species in Check
2. Ep. 274 – Hollow Trees = Habitat

2013-2019: Founding director, the Butterfly Gardens at Local Schools Program 

(Here you can see the TV 20 special coverage of the project)

2016-2020: Founding director, the LepCamp

2009-2018: Founding director, the Junior Volunteers in Lepidoptera Collections program

Other select professional activities

• Editor, McGuire Newsletter (2007-2014)
• Editor, McGuire Center’s 10th and 20th anniversary reports
• Editor, peer-reviewed journal Tropical Lepidoptera Research (2008-2016)
• President (5 years) and board member (12 years), the Center for Systematic Entomology

Examples of my work on exhibits and other educational materials

• Wall of Wings, World of Wings, Butterfly Rainforest, and other McGuire Center’s exhibits (photographer, author of the information panels, maker of specimen cases, consultant to the sculptor, etc.) (2002-2004)
• Discovery Zone, insect cases (2017)
• 100th Anniversary exhibit, Lepidoptera display cases (2017)
• Water Exhibit, cases with aquatic invertebrates (2024)
• Incredible Insects, display cases (2024)
• Video promoting butterfly gardening (script author, footage)
• Video about Zebra Longwing, the Florida state butterfly (script author, footage)
• Video tour of the McGuire Center’s collections (script author, footage, producer)
• Insect 3d Models (idea and specimen prep work were mine; produced by Zach Randall) – see on Sketchfab

Recent Blog Posts

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Social Media

• my Twitter page

My work featured in Florida Museum’s Science Stories:

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