Welcome!

I am the head of the Coleoptera section at the Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany - with more than 1.8 million specimens and ca. 6.000 type specimens.

As an evolutionary biologist, my research foci lies at the intersection of phylogenetics, spatial ecology and ecological biogeography, with a particular interest in probing macroevolutionary patterns and processes.

I integrate fieldwork, ecology, systematics, and bioinformatics with the purpose of understanding the evolutionary processes governing biodiversity assemblages and how these change across space and time.

Please feel free to browse and get in touch in case you have questions/doubts or ....just want to chat!

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My Research

Arising out of my work on systematic entomology, I have focused on a variety of topics pertaining to macroecology and macroevolution that have intrigued me, e.g., evolutionary radiations, Red Queen hypothesis, niche conservatism, demanding synergy of interdisciplinary methods, theory, and innovative software and technologies. Besides beetles, I have also worked, in collaboration with colleagues, on other groups, including bees, wasps, birds, marine invertebrates and ultimately my work is question driven.

My research program includes three primary areas, intertwined with my collection management approach,
which focus on data sharing and digitalization:

Insect Taxonomy, Systematics & Phylogenomics

Ecological biogeography with focus on the integration of collection data

Biodiversity Informatics

Much of my research has focused on the evolution of phytophagous beetles.

These taxa display remarkable morphological diversity, with plasticity in all life stages and unusual types of behaviors

(e.g.,maternal care, larvae defense mechanisms), much of which remains to be studied and described

A second focus of my research is bioinformatic modeling to understand biotic and abiotic interactions in defining the ecological distribution of species.

My interest in ecological biogeography is theoretical and practical. The former, taxon-independent, depending solely on the question at hand. This opens room for collaboration with specialists on different groups and backgrounds (e.g, students, professors).

With the majority of my projects being
collection-based, I am highly interested in the field of biodiversity informatics, promoting and generating
methods to solve problems of organizing, accessing, visualizing and analyzing primary biodiversity data

Curator's corner

Within the nexus of my research are my activities as curator. In this context, I plan to focus on the continuation of the digitization of the beetle collection. The conservation of such valuable resource is paramount, particularly in face of the rapidly growing possibilities of extensive data extraction from collection material.

Check here for updates on the development of several projects to advance the digitazation of our collection