Paula Malaquias Souto

My interests include Insect diversity, taxonomy, molecular biology, cultural entomology, evolution, and related subjects, particularly historical Biogeography, and Phylogeny. For many years I have also been working with digitization of zoological collections, museum curation, and scientific dissemination.

I have collaboration with researchers from  Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Italy, and United States of America.

My current research is driven by five overarching objectives: i) the use of the iridescent color of insects as a bio-inspiration for the production of original and ecologically correct nanostructured objects with optical characteristics similar to those presented by insects; ii) promote social inclusion through science citizenship; iii) to investigate the genetic diversity of a possible cryptic species with eye color variation, the neotropical mayfly Leptohyphodes inanis; iv) to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of Leptohyphidae (Ephemeroptera) with other mayfly families, as well as the relationships between genera within the family and the possible processes that contributed to the current distribution pattern of Leptohyphidae genera; v) generate morphological and molecular data to clarify the taxonomic status of predatory fireflies from the brazilian Atlantic Forest.