David King in natural habitat, standing with walking stick beside a tall rock.
Some Southern Illinois nature trails. 		Southern Illinois University

David G. King, associate professor emeritus
 
 Department of Zoology, College of Agricultural, Life, and Physical Sciences;
Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine
 
B.S.,  Biological Sciences, Purdue University, 1970.
Ph.D.,  Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, 1975.
Retired,  Southern Illinois University, 2014.  

Email:  dgking@siu.edu  

... But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
... Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and bed.

Bilbo Baggins' Walking Song
The Fellowship of the Ring
J.R.R. Tolkien

Research history:  My publications have touched on topics in neurobiology, histology, fly anatomy, and evolutionary genetics.  Special attention has been given to individually-identifiable nerve cells and to the hypothesis that abundant genetic variation at sites of tandem-repetitive DNA (which vastly outnumber protein-coding genes) might enable such sites to function as implicit "evolutionary tuning knobs" for practically any trait.  For additional detail, please see:

Annotated publication list   [epilogue]

micrograph of longitudinal section of Drosophila Selected links representing
areas of special interest:		 praying mantis among blackberries
head of a violin, with fingers on one of the tuning knobs EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY 
micrograph of nerve in fly neck NEUROBIOLOGY 
micrograph of epithelium and connective tissue HISTOLOGY 

close-up view of an Asilid (robber fly), with bulging eyes, long facial bristles, and yellow tarsal pads 

                                          (more nature photographs)

"Ad astra per alia muscae."
(with apologies to John Steinbeck) 

The Lord in his wisdom made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why.
                                   Ogden Nash

Flies were made so fools like me
Might wonder how such things could be --
With tiny wings and eyes and brains
Evolved in such diversity.
                                    DGK  

close-up view of Tachinid (bristle fly), with russet eyes and iridescent abdomen
                                         (more nature photographs)

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Comments and questions: dgking@siu.edu

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https://dgkinglab.siu.edu/index.htm
Last updated:  11 May 2023