Akito Y. Kawahara

Akito Kawahara is an entomologist, scientist, and advocate of nature education. He is originally from Japan where he began his interest in entomology, and has a strong connection with the amateur Japanese insect community. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida and a principal investigator at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at the Florida Museum of Natural History. He received his Bachelor’s from Cornell University in 2002 and his Ph.D. with Charles Mitter from the University of Maryland in 2010 though the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Kawahara’s research interests are insect phylogeny, predator-prey interactions, and insect conservation. He has received numerous scientific awards, and among his largest contributions are papers on the evolution of butterflies and moths, and studies on ultrasound production in moths and bats. He has appeared in numerous films, including Sex, lies, and Butterflies (2018), Conquest of the skies (2014), Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2009), among others.