Major emphasis: behavior, physiology, and behavioral ecology of arthropod vectors of vertebrate pathogens. Past research has covered field and laboratory studies of bed bugs, blood-sucking maggots, dung flies, ticks, spiders, fleas, sand flies, tsetse flies, and mosquitoes. These included  epidemiological investigations of encephalitis, leishmaniasis, Rocky Mtn. spotted fever, and Potomac horse fever. Present focus is on two lines of investigation: 1) the role of plant sugar in mosquito biology and vectorial capacity, and 2) the phylogeny of courtship behavior in sabethine mosquitoes. Current mosquito topics are these: nutritional ecology of African malaria vectors, attraction to volatile plant compounds, the modifiability of host preferences, and analysis of the courtship rituals of Venezuelan sabethines.