Jeong Gyeong-hoon, a master's student in the Department of Agricultural and Livestock Products Convergence at Jeonbuk University (supervised by Professor Kim Sora), won the Best Oral Presentation Award at the '2024 Korean Society of Applied Entomology Conference' for his research on the evolution history of the East Asian endemic species, Allochthonius.

Under the topic 'A phylogeography of Allochthonius,' Jeong conducted a phylogeographic analysis of Allochthonius species distributed in East Asia, including Korea, China, and Japan, to elucidate their evolutionary origins and divergence paths. The research, conducted through international collaboration with Hebei University in China, demonstrated that Allochthonius, which was previously distributed throughout East Asia, exhibited a distribution pattern centered around refugia due to climate change and geological shifts.

In particular, the spread to island regions from the Korean Peninsula and the rare case of 'marine transoceanic dispersal' confirmed globally were evaluated to have significant evolutionary biological implications.

Jeong expressed gratitude to his supervising professor and collaborative research team, describing the study as "a significant research that integrates East Asian biogeography and evolutionary history."

The Korean Society of Applied Entomology is a leading society for the academic and industrial development of entomology, selecting and awarding outstanding research annually.