My research focuses on discovery of diversity of parasitic organisms. My primary focus is on the gregarines which are single-celled animal-like protozoa primarily parasitic in insects. Because parasitism is so common much research is still needed to understand the total number of species of parasites. It is hypothesized that the total number of gregarine species which exists might rival the total number of insect hosts. There are nearly a million insect species, though only about 1,500 species of gregarines are known to science. Because of this gap in knowledge about baseline diversity, the premise of my research focuses on discovering and describing new species. My current work will focus on gregarines of grasshoppers in the American West. There is little known of any gregarines of insects in the entire western part of the US. This work will help us understand gregarine diversity, host usage, distribution, and population structure through a combination of field expeditions and laboratory work utilizing morp