Brady, Sean

Chair of Entomology, Research Entomologist and Curator of Hymenoptera

Positions

Chair and Research Entomologst, NMNH - Dept. of Entomology , National Museum of Natural History

Systematics, phylogenetics, genomics, and biology of Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps)

education and training

B.A., California Polytechnic University, Pomona
M.A., California State University, Fullerton
Ph.D., University of California, Davis

Professional Biography

I study the evolutionary biology of Hymenoptera, especially Aculeata (bees, ants, stinging wasps), with particular focus on phylogenomics, genomics, systematics, historical biogeography, and social evolution. I also study co-evolutionary interactions between Hymenoptera and their symbionts (in the broad sense), including other arthropods, fungi, bacteria, and pollinated angiosperms. Additionally, I am interested in applications of genomic and other large-scale data to biodiversity questions using natural history collections.

selected publications

article
- Branstetter, Michael G., Longino, John T., Reyes-Lopez, Joaquin L., Brady, Sean G., and Schultz, Ted R. 2022. "Out of the temperate zone: A phylogenomic test of the biogeographical conservatism hypothesis in a contrarian clade of ants." Journal of Biogeography, https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14462. 2022
- Bossert, Silas, Murray, Elizabeth A., Pauly, Alain, Chernyshov, Kyrylo, Brady, Sean G., and Danforth, Bryan N. 2021. "Gene Tree Estimation Error with Ultraconserved Elements: An Empirical Study on Pseudapis Bees." Systematic Biology 70 (4):803-821. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syaa097 2021
- Santos, Bernardo F., Wahl, David B., Rousse, Pascal, Bennett, Andrew M. R., Kula, Robert, and Brady, Sean G. 2021. "Phylogenomics of Ichneumoninae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) reveals pervasive morphological convergence and the shortcomings of previous classifications." Systematic Entomology https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12484 2021
- Rasplus, Jean-Yves, Blaimer, Bonnie B., Brady, Sean G., Burks, Roger A., Delvare, Gerard, Fisher, Nicole, Gates, Michael, Gauthier, Nathalie, Gumovsky, Alex, V., Hansson, Christer, Heraty, John M., Fusu, Lucian, Nidelet, Sabine, Pereira, Rodrigo A. S., Saune, Laure, Ubaidillah, Rosichon, and Cruaud, Astrid. 2020. "A first phylogenomic hypothesis for Eulophidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea)." Journal of Natural History 54 (9-12):597-609. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2020.1762941 2020
- Blaimer, Bonnie B., Gotzek, Dietrich, Brady, Sean G., and Buffington, Matthew L. 2020. "Comprehensive phylogenomic analyses re-write the evolution of parasitism within cynipoid wasps." BMC Evolutionary Biology, 20, (1), 155–155. London; England: BMC, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-020-01716-2. 2020
- Legeai, Fabrice, Santos, Bernardo F., Robin, Stéphanie, Bretaudeau, Anthony, Dikow, Rebecca B., Lemaitre, Claire, Jouan, Véronique, Ravallec, Marc, Drezen, Jean-Michel, Tagu, Denis, Baudat, Frédéric, Gyapay, Gabor, Zhou, Xin, Liu, Shanlin, Webb, Bruce A., Brady, Seán G., and Volkoff, Anne-Nathalie. 2020. "Genomic architecture of endogenous ichnoviruses reveals distinct evolutionary pathways leading to virus domestication in parasitic wasps." BMC Biology 18 (1):Article 89. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-020-00822-3 2020
- Supeleto, Fernanda A., Santos, Bernardo F., Brady, Sean G., and Aguiar, Alexandre P. 2020. "Phylogenomic analyses reveal a rare new genus of wasp (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Cryptinae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest." Systematics and Biodiversity 18 (7):646-661. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2020.1787551 2020
- Bossert, Silas, Copeland, Robert S., Sless, Trevor J. L., Branstetter, Michael G., Gillung, Jessica P., Brady, Sean G., Danforth, Bryan N., Policarova, Jana, and Straka, Jakub. 2020. "Phylogenomic and Morphological Reevaluation of the Bee Tribes Biastini, Neolarrini, and Townsendiellini (Hymenoptera: Apidae) With Description of Three New Species of Schwarzia." Insect Systematics and Diversity 4 (6):1-1. https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixaa013 2020
- Cruaud, Astrid, Delvare, Gerard, Nidelet, Sabine, Saune, Laure, Ratnasingham, Sujeevan, Chartois, Marguerite, Blaimer, Bonnie B., Gates, Michael, Brady, Sean G., Faure, Sariana, van Noort, Simon, Rossi, Jean-Pierre, and Rasplus, Jean-Yves. 2020. "Ultra-Conserved Elements and morphology reciprocally illuminate conflicting phylogenetic hypotheses in Chalcididae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea)." Cladistics https://doi.org/10.1111/cla.12416 2020
- Bossert, Silas, Murray, Elizabeth A., Almeida, Eduardo A. B., Brady, Seán G., Blaimer, Bonnie B., and Danforth, Bryan N. 2019. "Combining transcriptomes and ultraconserved elements to illuminate the phylogeny of Apidae." Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 130:121-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.012 2019
- Borowiec, Marek L., Rabeling, Christian, Brady, Sean G., Fisher, Brian L., Schultz, Ted R., and Ward, Philip S. 2019. "Compositional heterogeneity and outgroup choice influence the internal phylogeny of the ants." Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 134:111-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2019.01.024 2019
- Santos, Bernardo F., Alvarado, Mabel, Sääksjärvi, Ilari E., van Noort, Simon, Villemant, Claire, and Brady, Seán G. 2019. "Molecular phylogeny of Ateleutinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae): systematics and biogeography of a widespread parasitoid wasp lineage." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 185 (4):1057-1078. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zly072 2019
- Baumann, Kate, Vicenzi, Edward P., Lam, Thomas, Douglas, Janet, Arbuckle, Kevin, Cribb, Bronwen, Brady, Seán G., and Fry, Bryan G. 2018. "Correction to: Harden up: metal acquisition in the weaponized ovipositors of aculeate hymenoptera." Zoomorphology 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-018-0413-z 2018
- Baumann, Kate, Vicenzi, Edward P., Lam, Thomas, Douglas, Janet, Arbuckle, Kevin, Cribb, Bronwen, Brady, Seán G., and Fry, Bryan G. 2018. "Harden up: metal acquisition in the weaponized ovipositors of aculeate hymenoptera." Zoomorphology (137): 389-406. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-018-0403-1 2018
- Blaimer, Bonnie B., Mawdsley, Jonathan R., and Brady, Seán G. 2018. "Multiple origins of sexual dichromatism and aposematism within large carpenter bees." Evolution 72 (9):1874-1899. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13558 2018
- Blaimer, Bonnie B., Ward, Philip S., Schultz, Ted R., Fisher, Brian L., and Brady, Seán G. 2018. "Paleotropical Diversification Dominates the Evolution of the Hyperdiverse Ant Tribe Crematogastrini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)." Insect Systematics and Diversity 2 (5):https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixy013 2018
- Brady, Seán Gary. 2017. "Army ant invasions reveal phylogeographic processes across the Isthmus of Panama." Molecular ecology 26 (3):703-705. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.13981 2017
- Branstetter, Michael G., Danforth, Bryan N., Pitts, James P., Faircloth, Brant C., Ward, Philip S., Buffington, Matthew L., Gates, Michael W., Kula, Robert R., and Brady, Seán Gary. 2017. "Phylogenomic Insights into the Evolution of Stinging Wasps and the Origins of Ants and Bees." Current Biology 27 (7):1019-1025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.03.027 2017
- Boomsma, Jacobus J., Brady, Seán Gary, Dunn, Robert R., Gadau, Juergen, Heinze, Juergen, Keller, Laurent, Moreau, Corrie S., Sanders, Nathan J., Schrader, Lukas, Schultz, Ted R., Sundstrom, Lotta, Ward, Philip S., Wcislo, William T., Zhang, Guojie, and GAGA Consortium. 2017. "The Global Ant Genomics Alliance (GAGA)." Myrmecological News 25:61-66. 2017
- Menezes, Rodolpho Santos Telles, Brady, Seán G., Carvalho, Antônio F., Del Lama, Marco A., and Costa, Marco A. 2017. "The roles of barriers, refugia, and chromosomal clines underlying diversification in Atlantic Forest social wasps." Scientific Reports 7 (1):https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07776-7 2017
- Mulcahy, Daniel G., Macdonald, Kenneth S., Brady, Seán G., Meyer, Christopher, Barker, Katharine B., and Coddington, Jonathan. 2016. "Greater than X kb: a quantitative assessment of preservation conditions on genomic DNA quality, and a proposed standard for genome-quality DNA." PeerJ 4:e2528. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2528 2016
- Ward, P. S., Brady, Seán G., Fisher, B. L., and Schultz, Ted R. 2016. "Phylogenetic classifications are informative, stable, and pragmatic: the case for monophyletic taxa." Insectes Sociaux 63 (4):489-492. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-016-0516-9 2016
- Blaimer, Bonnie B., LaPolla, John S., Branstetter, Michael G., Lloyd, Michael W., and Brady, Seán Gary. 2016. "Phylogenomics, biogeography and diversification of obligate mealybug-tending ants in the genus Acropyga." Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 102:20-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2016.05.030 2016
- Nygaard, Sanne, Hu, Haofu, Li, Cai, Schiott, Morten, Chen, Zhensheng, Yang, Zhikai, Xie, Qiaolin, Ma, Chunyu, Deng, Yuan, Dikow, Rebecca B., Rabeling, Christian, Nash, David R., Wcislo, William T., Brady, Seán Gary, Schultz, Ted R., Zhang, Guojie, and Boomsma, Jacobus J. 2016. "Reciprocal genomic evolution in the ant-fungus agricultural symbiosis." Nature Communications 7:e12233. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12233 2016
- Blaimer, Bonnie B., Lloyd, Michael W., Guillory, Wilson X., and Brady, Seán Gary. 2016. "Sequence Capture and Phylogenetic Utility of Genomic Ultraconserved Elements Obtained from Pinned Insect Specimens." PLOS ONE 11 (8):1-20. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161531 2016
- Blaimer, Bonnie B., Brady, Seán Gary, Schultz, Ted R., and Fisher, Brian L. 2015. "Functional and phylogenetic approaches reveal the evolution of diversity in a hyper diverse biota." Ecography 38 (9):901-912. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.01370 2015
- Smith, Chris R., Cahan, Sara Helms, Kemena, Carsten, Brady, Seán Gary, Yang, Wei, Bornberg-Bauer, Erich, Eriksson, Ti, Gadau, Juergen, Helmkampf, Martin, Gotzek, Dietrich, Miyakawa, Misato Okamoto, Suarez, Andrew V., and Mikheyev, Alexander. 2015. "How do genomes create novel phenotypes? Insights from the loss of the worker caste in ant social parasites." Molecular biology and evolution 32 (11):2919-2931. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msv165 2015
- Menezes, Rodolpho Santos Telles, Brady, Seán Gary, Carvalho, Antônio Freire, Del Lama, Marco Antonio, and Costa, Marco Antônio. 2015. "Molecular Phylogeny and Historical Biogeography of the Neotropical Swarm-Founding Social Wasp Genus Synoeca (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)." PloS One 10 (3):1-15. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0119151 2015
- Blaimer, Bonnie B., Brady, Seán Gary, Schultz, Ted R., Lloyd, Michael W., Fisher, Brian L., and Ward, Philip S. 2015. "Phylogenomic methods outperform traditional multi-locus approaches in resolving deep evolutionary history: a case study of formicine ants." BMC Evolutionary Biology 15 (1):271. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-015-0552-5 2015
- Faircloth, Brant C., Branstetter, Michael G., White, Noor D., and Brady, Seán Gary. 2015. "Target enrichment of ultraconserved elements from arthropods provides a genomic perspective on relationships among Hymenoptera." Molecular Ecology Resources 15 (3):489-501. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12328 2015
- Schultz, Ted R., Sosa-Calvo, Jeffrey, Brady, Seán Gary, Lopes, Cauê T., Mueller, Ulrich G., Bacci, Mauricio, and Vasconcelos, Heraldo L. 2015. "The Most Relictual Fungus-Farming Ant Species Cultivates the Most Recently Evolved and Highly Domesticated Fungal Symbiont Species." American Naturalist 185 (5):693-703. https://doi.org/10.1086/680501 2015
- Ward, Philip S., Brady, Seán Gary, Fisher, Brian L., and Schultz, Ted R. 2015. "The evolution of myrmicine ants: Phylogeny and biogeography of a hyperdiverse ant clade." Systematic Entomology 40 (1):61-81. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12090 2015
- Buffington, Matthew L., Perkovsky, Evgeny E., and Brady, Seán Gary. 2014. "The Description of Rovnoeucoila tympanomorpha Buffington and Perkovsky, a New Genus and Species of Fossil Eucoiline, with Observations on the Asynchronous Evolution of Diglyphosematini (Hymenoptera: Figitidae: Eucoilinae)." Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 116 (3):243-254. https://doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797.116.3.243 2014
- Brady, Seán Gary, Fisher, Brian L., Schultz, Ted R., and Ward, Philip S. 2014. "The rise of army ants and their relatives: diversification of specialized predatory doryline ants." BMC Evolutionary Biology 14 (1):https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-14-93 2014
- Rightmyer, Molly G., Griswold, Terry, and Brady, Seán Gary. 2013. "Phylogeny and systematics of the bee genus Osmia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) with special emphasis on North American Melanosmia: New subgenera, synonymies, and nesting biology revisited." Systematic Entomology 38 (3):561-576. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12013 2013
- Seltmann, Katja, Yoder, Matthew, Miko, Istvan, Forshage, Mattias, Bertone, Matthew, Agosti, Donat, Austin, Andrew, Balhoff, James, Borowiec, Marek, Brady, Seán Gary, Broad, Gavin, Brothers, Denis, Burks, Roger, Buffington, Matthew L., Campbell, Heather, Dew, Kelly, Ernst, Andrew, Fernandez-Triana, Jose, Gates, Michael, Gibson, Gary, Jennings, John, Johnson, Norman, Karlsson, Dave, Kawada, Ricardo, Krogmann, Lars et al. 2012. "A hymenopterists’ guide to the Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology: utility, clarification, and future directions." Journal of Hymenoptera Research 27:67-88. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.27.2961 2012
- LaPolla, John S., Kallal, Robert J., and Brady, Seán Gary. 2012. "A new ant genus from the Greater Antilles and Central America, Zatania (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), exemplifies the utility of male and molecular character systems." Systematic Entomology 37 (1):200-214. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.2011.00605.x 2012
- Almeida, Eduardo A. B., Pie, Marcio R., Brady, Seán Gary, and Danforth, Bryan N. 2012. "Biogeography and diversification of colletid bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae): emerging patterns from the southern end of the world." Journal of Biogeography 39 (3):526-544. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02624.x 2012
- Buffington, Matthew L., Brady, Seán Gary, Morita, Shelah I., and van Noort, Simon. 2012. "Divergence estimates and early evolutionary history of Figitidae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea)." Systematic Entomology 37 (2):287-304. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.2012.00617.x 2012
- Rinkevich, Frank D., Hedtke, Shannon M., Leichter, Cheryl A., Harris, Sarah A., Su, Cathy, Brady, Seán Gary, Taskin, Vatan, Oiu, Xinghui, and Scott, Jeffery G. 2012. "Multiple Origins of kdr-type Resistance in the House Fly, Musca domestica." PLoS ONE 7 (12):1-6. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0052761 2012
- Gibbs, Jason, Brady, Seán Gary, Kanda, Kojun, and Danforth, Bryan N. 2012. "Phylogeny of halictine bees supports a shared origin of eusociality for Halictus and Lasioglossum (Apoidea: Anthophila: Halictidae)." Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 65 (3):926-939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2012.08.013 2012
- Mehdiabadi, Natasha J., Mueller, Ulrich G., Brady, Seán Gary, Himler, Anna G., and Schultz, Ted R. 2012. "Symbiont fidelity and the origin of species in fungus-growing ants." Nature Communications 3:840. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1844 2012
- Gotzek, Dietrich, Brady, Seán Gary, Kallal, Robert J., and LaPolla, John S. 2012. "The Importance of Using Multiple Approaches for Identifying Emerging Invasive Species: The Case of the Rasberry Crazy Ant in the United States." PLoS ONE 7 (9):1-10. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045314 2012
- Brady, Seán Gary. 2011. "Effects of fossil calibration uncertainty on divergence dating in ants and bees." American Entomologist 57 (1):56-57. 2011
- LaPolla, John S., Brady, Seán Gary, and Shattuck, Steve O. 2011. "Monograph of Nylanderia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the World: An introduction to the systematics and biology of the genus." Zootaxa 3110:1-9. 2011
- Brady, Seán Gary, Litman, Jessica, and Danforth, Bryan N. 2011. "Rooting phylogenies using gene duplications: an empirical example from the bees (Apoidea)." Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 60:295-304. 2011
- LaPolla, John S., Brady, Seán Gary, and Shattuck, Steven O. 2010. "Designation of a neotype for Paratrechina currens Motschoulsky, 1863." Notulae Naturae 481:1-2. 2010
- Droege, Sam, Rightmyer, Molly, Sheffield, Cory, and Brady, Seán Gary. 2010. "New synonymies in the bee genus Nomada from North America (Hymenoptera: Apidae)." Zootaxa 2661:1-32. 2010
- Ward, Philip S., Brady, Seán Gary, Fisher, Brian L., and Schultz, Ted R. 2010. "Phylogeny and Biogeography of Dolichoderine Ants: Effects of Data Partitioning and Relict Taxa on Historical Inference." Systematic Biology 59 (3):342-362. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syq012 2010
- LaPolla, John S., Brady, Seán Gary, and Shattuck, Steven O. 2010. "Phylogeny and taxonomy of the Prenolepis genus-group of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)." Systematic Entomology 35 (1):118-131. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.2009.00492.x 2010
- Bradley, Timothy J., Briscoe, Adriana, Brady, Seán Gary, Contreras, Heidy L., Danforth, Bryan N., Dudley, Robert K., Grimaldi, David, Harrison, Jon F., Kaiser, J. A., Merlin, Christine, Reppert, Steven M., Vanden Brooks, John M., and Yanoviak, Stephen P. 2009. "Episodes in insect evolution." Integrative and Comparative Biology 49 (5):590-606. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icp043 2009
- Kozaki, Toshinori, Brady, Seán Gary, and Scott, Jeffrey G. 2009. "Frequencies and evolution of organophosphate insensitive acetylcholinesterase alleles in laboratory and field populations of the house fly, Musca domestica L.." Pesticide biochemistry and physiology 95 (1):6-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pestbp.2009.04.015 2009
- Wernegreen, Jennifer J., Kauppinen, Seth N., Brady, Seán Gary, and Ward, Philip S. 2009. "One nutritional symbiosis begat another: Phylogenetic evidence that the ant tribe Camponotini acquired Blochmannia by tending sap-feeding insects." BMC Evolutionary Biology 9:292. 2009
- Ward, Philip S. and Brady, Seán Gary. 2009. "Rediscovery of the ant genus Amyrmex Kusnezov (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and its transfer from Dolichoderinae to Leptanilloidinae." Zootaxa 2063:46-54. 2009
- Sosa-Calvo, Jeffrey, Brady, Seán Gary, and Schultz, Ted R. 2009. "The Gyne of the Enigmatic Fungus-Farming Ant Species Mycetosoritis explicata." Journal of Hymenoptera Research 18 (1):113-120. 2009
- LaPolla, John S., Burwell, Chris, Brady, Seán Gary, and Miller, Douglass R. 2008. "A new ortheziid (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) from Australia associated with Acropyga myops Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and a key to Australian Ortheziidae." Zootaxa (1946): 55-68. 2008
- Schultz, Ted R. and Brady, Seán Gary. 2008. "Major evolutionary transitions in ant agriculture." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105 (14):5435-5440. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0711024105 2008
chapter
- Brady, Seán Gary, Larkin, L., and Danforth, Bryan N. 2009. "Bees, ants, and stinging wasps (Aculeata)." in The Timetree of Life, edited by Hedges, S. B. and Kumar, S., 264-269. Oxford University Press. 2009
review
- Brady, Seán Gary. 2011. [Book review] "The Leafcutting Ants: Civilization by Instinct by B. Hölldobler and E.O. Wilson." The Quarterly Review of Biology. 236-237. https://doi.org/10.1086/661128 2011
Bossert, Silas, Wood, Thomas J., Patiny, Sebastien, Michez, Denis, Almeida, Eduardo A. B., Minckley, Robert L., Packer, Laurence, Neff, John L., Copeland, Robert S., Straka, Jakub, Pauly, Alain, Griswold, Terry, Brady, Sean G., Danforth, Bryan N., and Murray, Elizabeth A. 2022. "Phylogeny, biogeography and diversification of the mining bee family Andrenidae." Systematic Entomology, 47, (2) 283–302. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12530. 2022
Menezes, Rodolpho S. T., Lloyd, Michael W., and Brady, Sean G. 2020. "Phylogenomics indicates Amazonia as the major source of Neotropical swarm-founding social wasp diversity." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287, (1928). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.0480. 2020
Branstetter, Michael G., Ješovnik, Ana, Sosa-Calvo, Jeffrey, Lloyd, Michael W., Faircloth, Brant C., Brady, Seán G., and Schultz, Ted R. 2017. "Dry habitats were crucibles of domestication in the evolution of agriculture in ants." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284, (1852). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0095. 2017

Brady, Sean

Positions

Background And Education

education and training

Professional Biography

Research And Grants

investigator on

Publications

selected publications

article

chapter

review

Affiliation

member of

Contact

Location