Ummat Somjee is a NOMIS–STRI Fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama.
Somjee completed his BSc at Simon Fraser University in Canada after completing high school in Kenya. He was awarded the Outstanding MS Thesis Award in Entomology during his MS studies at the University of Florida, US, where he also completed a PhD in interdisciplinary ecology. His work has taken him from remote field sites in Central America to research sites in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, as well as to the entomological archives of the Smithsonian.
An evolutionary biologist, Somjee is investigating how energetic constraints and social behavior shape the evolution of animal morphology and communication. His research integrates fieldwork as well as studies of physiology, behavior, and evolutionary theory to explore how complex traits such as weapons, ornaments and ritualized contests evolve — particularly in insects. He focuses on the energetics and evolution of elaborated traits, with a special interest in weevils, which are among the least studied, yet most diverse animals on the planet. His research has been featured in The New York Times, National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and on NPR and a PBS documentary “Bugs That Rule the World.”
Research Focus
As a NOMIS–STRI Fellow, Somjee is investigating how social contests and conflict resolution shape morphological innovation and signal diversity. Animals from diverse clades perform stereotypic behaviors in the form of a social contest rituals. These rituals comprise of a series of gestures and responses that result in complex forms of communication. Yet, social rituals are also drivers of morphological elaboration and complexity. Somjee aims to investigate the relationship between social contest behaviors and signal diversity in jousting weevils and the hyper-diverse group of tusked weevils using micro-CT imaging, phylogenetic analysis, state-based modeling and field-centered behavioral experiments. Social signals have been a pervasive feature shaping the evolution of animal diversity, but signal evolution is complex and remains challenging to predict. These studies aim to deepen our understanding of how social interactions shape the elaboration and diversification of social signals.
Feature image: Ummat Somjee; New Zealand giraffe weevil photo by Ummat Somjee