MARÍA MILAGRO
COCA ABIA
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Dr.
Coca Abia works at the Centro de Investigaciones y Tecnologías
Agroalimentarias (CITA), Unidad de Sanidad Vegetal (Zaragoza,
Spain), where she conducts research on insect pest management
that focuses on chemical communication in locusts (Dociostaurus and Calliptamus
spp). She studies the ultrastructure of specialized sensilla
in the antennae, abdominal forceps, olfactory receptors, pheromone-releasing
glands, and identification of pheromones for chemical management.
In addition, she works with insect pests in olive orchards
and continuous her research on the systematics and historical
biogeography of the subfamily Melolonthinae (Coleoptera: Scarabeidae).
She worked at the Museo Nacional Ciencias Naturales, Departamento
de Biología Evolutiva (Entomología), where she
finished her doctoral dissertation in 1995 in Madrid, Spain,
and her research addressed the phylogeny and historical biogeography
of the subfamily Melolonthinae in the Palearctic region. She
was a Postdoctoral Fellow for two years (1996-1997) at the
National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C.) and worked with Nearctic Melolonthinae, mostly
at the generic level, although in the case of Phyllophaga Harris
there was a more detailed study at the subgeneric or species-group
level.
She is currently conducting research on the projects “Biología
y Etología de los acrídidos plaga Dociostaurus Fieber
(1853) y Calliptamus Serville (1831) y estudios prospectivos
para su control integrado mediante feromonas” and “Evaluación
del estado y seguimiento del efecto del olivar ecológico
frente al olivar convencional considerando la entomofauna, la
flora arvense y la fertilidad del suelo en el Bajo Aragón
Turolense”. In addition, she continuous her research on
the subfamily Melolonthinae. |
