Line of Research

 

Line of Research: Systematics, Bionomy And Metamorphoses of The Coleoptera

My scientific interests focus on the compared morphology of both immature and adults of the Coleoptera in general, and of the Elateroidea and Elateridae in particular, mainly of the bioluminescent elaterids. 

Since I started my researches on the systematics and evolution of the beetles of the Elateridae family in 1966, I have been collecting data on the bionomics of the Coleoptera on the whole (in general). 

From 1977 on, I could count on the help of Sergio A. Vanin, so I managed to begin to publish original data on the larvae from other Coleoptera families. Then in 1980, we eventually (eventually?) made up the research group under the name of “Studies on Neotropical Coleoptera Larvae”, having also received support for it in one way or another from colleagues and students ever since. We could count on the active participation of Sônia A. Casari (1981-2001) and in 1991 Sergio Ide joined in our team. In 1997, we reformulated the research group and changed its name to, “Systematics, Bionomics and Metamorphosis of Coleoptera”, for it better expressed our line of research.

 

Since then, bearing in mind one of our objectives - the elaboration in the long term of a new classification of the Coleoptera Order including the immature, - and being aware of the existing gaps in the knowledge of the adults’ morphology, we have decided to insert the description both of the immature and of the adults as well. The main targets of this line of research are: to deepen the enlightenment of the adults and larvae basically from the Neotropical Region; to make cladistic analyses that include adult and immature characters apart from appraisals of the biodiversity, aiming at the Coleoptera collections systematization and computerization.