I am an entomologist addressing a variety of research questions in the fields of systematics, evolutionary and conservation biology. My recent and ongoing projects address the taxonomy and higher-level phylogenetics of beetles, the investigation of the hypotheses of higher speciation rates and increased morphological plasticity in paedomorphic lineages, and on the use of natural history collections as resources for understanding biodiversity loss.
Ph.D. in Plant Sciences (Systematic Entomology concentration).
Universidade de São Paulo, Museu de Zoologia, Brazil, 2012-2014
M.Sc., Systematics, Animal Taxonomy and Biodiversity.
Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul, Brazil, 2008-2011
B.S., Biological Sciences (Teaching major).
Selected Professional Appointments
Head of Coleoptera and Curator. 2024/Feb – Current
Senckenberg German Entomological Institute (SDEI), Müncheberg, Germany.
Beaty Postdoctoral Fellow for Species Discovery. 2023/Jun – Jan/2024.
Canadian Museum of Nature, Ontario, and McGill University, Quebec, Canada.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow – Post-doctoral researcher. 2021/Sept––2023/Jun
Natural History Museum, Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Assistant curator. 2016/Jan–2021/Jul
Montana Entomology Collection, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA.
Biodiversity Information Specialist. 2015/Aug–2015/Dec
United Nations Development Program in Brazil, SiBBr – Sistema de Informação da Biodiversidade Brasileira, the Brazilian node of GBIF, Brasília, DF, Brazil.
Selected Awards and Fellowships
2023 – The Beaty Postdoctoral Fellowship for Species Discovery, Canadian Museum of Nature – CAD90,000 (in part)
2023 – LinnéSys: Systematics Research Fund, Systematics Association and the Linnean Society – £900
2023 – Jean Theodore Lacordaire Prize for the Best Published Paper based upon a Doctoral Dissertation, The Coleopterists Society – US$1,000.
2022 – Carlsberg Foundation Field Trip Research award (co-PI with Alexey Solodovnikov) – DKK 80,744.00
2021 – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship, European Union – €219,312
2021 – Junior Post-doctoral Research Fellowship Award by CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), Ministry of Science and Technology, Brazil – R$58,100 (Declined)
2021 – SYNTHESYS+ Transnational access travel award – 2 weeks funded travel award to the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France – €5,565.00
2018 – The Ernst Mayr Travel Grants in Animal Systematics. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University – US$1,175
2017 – Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity (SysEB) Student Research Travel Award. Entomological Society of America – US$1,500
2016 – Doctoral Research Fellowship for 4 years by CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), Ministry of Science and Technology, Brazil – US$130,000
2012 – Master of Science Fellowship for 2 years by CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), Ministry of Education, Brazil – $12,000
Member of Editorial Board
ZooKeys – since December/2021
Biodiversity Data Journal – since December/2021
Zootaxa – since February/2022
The Coleopterists Bulletin – since February/2022
BMC Zoology – May/2022 – July/2023
Publications (last five years, since 2019)
Ferreira, V.S. and Ivie, M.A. 2023. Revision and Phylogeny of the West Indian Net-Winged Beetle Genus Thonalmus Bourgeois, 1883 (Coleoptera: Elateroidea: Lycidae): An Integrative Approach to Solve 260 Years of Unsettled Taxonomy. The Coleopterists Bulletin – Patricia Vaurie Monograph series, 77(mo19): 1–101. http://doi.org/10.1649/1934-0451.mo19.1
Kundrata, R., Packova, G., Li, Y., Hsiao, Y., Shaw, J. J., Ferreira, V.S., Bao, M., Cai, C. 2023. Further mysteries solved in Mysteriomorphidae (Coleoptera: Elateroidea): discovery of female specimens, and synonymy with a genus recently described in Cantharidae. Cretaceous Research 105756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105756
Ferreira, V.S., Barbosa, F.F., Bocakova, M., Solodovnikov, A. 2023. An extraordinary case of elytra loss in Coleoptera (Elateroidea: Lycidae): Discovery and placement of the first anelytrous adult male beetle. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 199(2): 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad026
Tokareva, A., Koszela, K., Ferreira, V.S., Yamamoto, S., Żyła, D. 2023. The oldest potential case of paedomorphosis in Staphylinidae: a new genus of Paederinae from Cretaceous amber. Scientific Reports 13:5317. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32446-2
Ferreira, V.S. and Motyka, M. 2023. DNA and Morphology Corroborates the Placement of the Former New World Adoceta Bourgeois in Macrolygistopterus Pic and Updates on the Status of North American Calochrominae (Coleoptera, Lycidae). The Coleopterists Bulletin. 77(1): 63–72. https://doi.org/10.1649/0010-065X-77.1.63
Ferreira, V.S. and M.A. Ivie. 2023. The First Extant Species of Falsoceratoprion Ferreira, with a Key for the West Indian Lycidae Genera (Coleoptera, Elateroidea). The Coleopterists Bulletin. 77(1): 101–109. https://doi.org/10.1649/0010-065X-77.1.101
Ivie, M.A., Fanti, F., and Ferreira, V.S. 2022. A New Tytthonyx (Cantharidae) from Dominican Amber, with notes on diagnostic characters of West Indian Cantharids. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 76(4): 577–583. https://doi.org/10.1649/0010-065X-76.4.577
Ferreira, V.S., and Tettamanzi, L. 2022. Falsoceratoprion fumagalliae new genus and species: The First Calopterini from Dominican Amber (Coleoptera, Lycidae). The Coleopterists Bulletin. 76(2): 288–292. https://doi.org/10.1649/0010-065X-76.2.288
Ferreira, V.S., and Ivie, M.A. 2022. Lessons from a Museum’s Cabinet: DNA barcoding and Collections-based Life Stage Associations Reveals a Hidden Diversity in the Puerto Rican Bank Paedomorphic Lycidae (Coleoptera, Elateroidea). Insect Systematics and Diversity. 6(3), 2: 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixac006
Ferreira, V.S., Solodvnikov, A., Ivie, M.A. and Kundrata, R. 2022. Dominican Amber Net-Winged Beetles suggest stable Paleoenvironment as a driver for Conserved Morphology in a Paedomorphic lineage. Scientific Reports 12, 5820. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09867-6
Ferreira, V.S., Keller, O. and Ivie, M.A. 2022. Descriptions of New Species of Chespirito Ferreira, Keller & Branham (Coleoptera: Lampyridae: Chespiritoinae) and the First Record for the Subfamily in the United States. Zootaxa. 5124 (2): 230–237. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5124.2.8
Ferreira, V.S., Keller, O. and Branham, M.A. 2020. Multilocus Phylogeny Support the Non-Bioluminescent Firefly Chespirito as a New Subfamily in the Lampyridae (Coleoptera: Elateroidea). Insect Systematics and Diversity. 4(6): 1−13. https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixaa014
Olmedo, F.M., Ferreira, V.S., Branham, M.A. and Ivie, M.A. 2020. The description of Prototrichalus gen. nov. and three new species from Burmese amber supports a mid-Cretaceous origin of the Metriorrhynchini (Coleoptera, Lycidae). Cretaceous Research, 111, 104452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104452
Ferreira, V.S. 2020. Revision of Acroleptus Bourgeois, 1886 and Descriptions of New Aporrhipis Species (Lycidae, Calopterini, Acroleptina). Journal of Natural History. 53: 2739−2756. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2020.1733120
Ferreira, V.S. and Silveira, L.F.L. 2020. A New Paedomorphic Genus of Net-Winged Beetles from the Atlantic Rainforest (Coleoptera, Elateroidea, Lycidae). Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia. v.60.special‑issue: e202060(s.i.).35. http://doi.org/10.11606/1807-0205/2020.60.special-issue.35
Ferreira, V.S., Keller, O., Branham, M.A. and Ivie, M.A. 2019. Molecular Data Support the Placement of the Enigmatic Cheguevaria Kazantsev as a subfamily of Lampyridae (Insecta: Coleoptera). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 187(4): 1253−1258. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz073