My research addresses fundamental questions about evolution in invertebrates: in other words, I am fascinated by how, when and where biodiversity took its form, and why it is maintained. My main two animal groups of interest are terrestrial annelids (oligochaetes) and (pan)arthropods, particularly the earliest branching lineages (chelicerates and myriapods). 

How did biodiversity took its shape? Resolving the tree of life. Macroevolutionary patterns are generally what we see when we look at the large-scale history of life. It encompasses the grandest trends and transformations in evolution, such as the origin of bilateral animals or the radiation of arthropods. In order to understand how lineages are related to each other, I study macroevolutionary patterns in several groups of invertebrates through phylogenetics and phylogenomics. I currently lead a very fruitful line of research dealing with phylogenomics of myriapods and chelicerates, having optimized protocols to sequence successfully single individuals of the rarest and smallest arthropods. We are getting closer to resolve the Arthropod Tree of Life!

When and where? I tried to understand the mode and tempo of animal diversification patterns through the integration of phylogeography, biogeography and paleogeography.

Why? Comparative transcriptomics & genomics is a very powerful tool to shed light on very interesting evolutionary questions, such as arthropod terrestrialization - one of my favorite new lines of research.