We are happy to welcome back Richard Gawne as Visiting Fellow to the KLI. Richard is an evolutionary developmental biologist and an alumnus of KLI. He is currently working as Curator of Natural History at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas.

Richard holds a PhD in Biology from Duke University, with his dissertation on the development and evolution of wing patterning in the bella moth Utetheisa ornatrix in 2017. He has also had research experiences at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Tufts University, and a Fulbright fellowship at the University of Copenhagen’s Center for Social Evolution.

During his Visiting Fellowship at the KLI, from 1 to 30 September 2025, Richard will be working on his project titled: “Wing Size and Shape as Mechanisms of Evolvability in Lepidopteran Color Patterns”

Here’s wishing Richard a very warm welcome back to the KLI, and a wonderful and productive time here!