Sex wars and alien invaders

Abstract

Professor Michael Majerus (Mike) was renowned for his work on evolutionary ecology. The charismatic Coccinellidae provided the focus for much of his work. Mike was an inspirational mentor, always willing to share his expertise and ideas. In 1997 I met with Mike for the first time and it was the beginning of a wonderful collaboration. Mike was particularly fascinated with sex ratio distortion and more specifically ultraselfish endosymbionts such as Wolbachia. In this tribute to Mike I tell the story of my sabbatical leave with Mike working on the interactions between male-killers and a pathogenic fungus and the distraction of the arrival the alien invader, Harmonia axyridis