Dr. Bonnie Blaimer

Scientist / (Senior) Scientist

Bonnie.Blaimer@mfn.berlin+49 0 30 889 140 - 8315
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Department:
Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery

My research group uses using genomic and specimen-based methods to explore questions in evolutionary biology, biogeography, systematics and population genomics. We have a particular focus on studying ants and other Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) in biodiverse regions such as the Tropics and the Mediterranean. Our projects focus on advancing understanding of the historical and contemporary evolutionary processes and patterns that have shaped insect diversity and distributions, and on improving insect systematics through integrative approaches that combine molecular, morphological and ecological data. I am also Co-Scientific Head of the Hymenoptera collection at MfN and am responsible for the Formicidae (ants) and all other non-aculeate Hymenoptera.

I work in the collections:
Hymenoptera and Neuropterida

Publications

Aimé, E., Benavides, L.R., Blaimer, B.B., Espeland, M., Kergoat, G.J., Owen, C.L., Toussaint, E.F.A., Weirauch, C. (2025). [Editorial:] Developing Systematic Entomology and expanding its scope. Systematic Entomology, 50(4), 677-678. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12692Open Access

Kirchner, M., Sorenson, C., Blaimer, B.B., Youngsteadt, E. (2024). Reaching new heights: Arboreal ant diversity in a North American temperate forest ecosystem. Insect Conservation and Diversity, 18(1), 95-106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12788Open Access

Mbanyana, N., Blaimer, B.B., Le Roux, J.J., Van Noort, S., Brady, S.G., Wossler, T.C. (2024). Out of the desert: Paleoclimatic changes drove the diversification of arid-adapted Ocymyrmex ants in southern Africa. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 191, 107977. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107977

Cruaud, A., Rasplus, J., Zhang, J., Burks, R., Delvare, G., Fusu, L., Gumovsky, A., Huber, J.T., Janšta, P., Mitroiu, M., Noyes, J.S., Van Noort, S., Baker, A., Böhmová, J., Baur, H., Blaimer, B.B., Brady, S.G., Bubeníková, K., Chartois, M., Copeland, R.S., Dale‐Skey Papilloud, N., Dal Molin, A., Dominguez, C., Gebiola, M., Guerrieri, E., Kresslein, R.L., Krogmann, L., Lemmon, E., Murray, E.A., Nidelet, S., Nieves‐Aldrey, J.L., Perry, R.K., Peters, R.S., Polaszek, A., Sauné, L., Torréns, J., Triapitsyn, S., Tselikh, E.V., Yoder, M., Lemmon, A.R., Woolley, J.B., Heraty, J.M. (2023). The Chalcidoidea bush of life: evolutionary history of a massive radiation of minute wasps. Cladistics, 40(1), 34-63. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cla.12561Open Access

Almeida, E.A., Bossert, S., Danforth, B.N., Porto, D.S., Freitas, F.V., Davis, C.C., Murray, E.A., Blaimer, B.B., Spasojevic, T., Ströher, P.R., Orr, M.C., Packer, L., Brady, S.G., Kuhlmann, M., Branstetter, M.G., Pie, M.R. (2023). The evolutionary history of bees in time and space. Current Biology, 33(16), 3409-3422.e6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.07.005

Mbanyana, N., Duffy, G.A., Janion-Scheepers, C., Van Noort, S., Blaimer, B.B., Le Roux, J.J., Wossler, T.C. (2025). Some like it hot: physiological responses of hot-rod ants (Hymeno ptera: Formicidae) and their interactions with past and future climate change. Myrmecological news, 35, 249-263. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25849/myrmecol.news_035:249Open Access

Camacho, G., Loss, A., Fisher, B., Blaimer, B. (2025). A zoogeographic model for the evolution of diversity and endemism in Madagascar. Ecography. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecog.07661Open Access

Kirchner, M., Bertone, M., Blaimer, B.B., Youngsteadt, E. (2023). Colony Structure and Redescription of Males in the Rarely Collected Arboreal Ant, Aphaenogaster mariae Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 125(1), 77–88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797.125.1.77

Ward, P., Fisher, B., Wernegreen, J., Blaimer, B. (2025). Evolutionary history, novel lineages and symbiont coevolution in the ant tribe Camponotini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology, 50(3), 646-676. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12678Open Access

Blaimer, B.B., Santos, B.F., Cruaud, A., Gates, M.W., Kula, R.R., Mikó, I., Rasplus, J.Y., Smith, D.R., Talamas, E.J., Brady, S.G., Buffington, M.L. (2023). Key innovations and the diversification of Hymenoptera. Nature Communications, 14(1), 1212. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36868-4Open Access

Doré, M., Borowiec, M., Branstetter, M., Camacho, G., Fisher, B., Longino, J., Ward, P., Blaimer, B. (2025). Evolutionary history of ponerine ants highlights how the timing of dispersal events shapes modern biodiversity. Nature Communications, 16(1), 8297. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63709-3Open Access

Zhang, Y., Delvare, G., Blaimer, B., Cruaud, A., Rasplus, J., Brady, S., Gates, M. (2025). Phasing in and out of phytophagy: Phylogeny and evolution of the family Eurytomidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) based on Ultraconserved Elements. Systematic Entomology, 50(4), 780-793. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12682

Fisher, B.L., Branstetter, M.G., Blaimer, B.B., Borowiec, M.L., Camacho, G.P., Doré, M., Ward, P.S., Longino, J.T. (2025). A genus-level classification of the ant subfamily Ponerinae (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys, 1264, 281-349. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1264.173399Open Access