My research focuses on understanding drivers of diversification in specialized systems and how their ecological preferences affect their evolution. I focus on systematics, evolution and biogeography. I study the evolution of organisms using molecular phylogenetic techniques and analyses to understand the evolution of the areas that they are distributed. Under these main themes, I have been studying the evolution of South American oil-collecting bees.
Why are these bees interesting?
Oil-collecting is a remarkable behavior observed in distinct bee lineages. These insects collect not only nectar and pollen from flowers, but they visit specific oil-producing flowers to harvest fat acids, possibly to waterproof their brood cells. The tribe Tapinotaspidini is interesting because all of its species are oil-collecting, with different degrees of specialization.
I study bees from the genus Chalepogenus as a model for understanding how biogeography, floral preferences and climate can interact to drive diversification and evolution.
Chalepogeus bee visiting Calceolaria oil-flowers
(Photo: Anahí Espíndola)
(Photo: Anahí Espíndola)