Brian D. Farrell
Faculty Support: Amie Jones
My lab and I work on the evolution of interactions between different kinds of tiny consumers, especially beetles and other arthropods, and their much larger hosts, such as plants or large animals. We use phylogenetics to understand the directions, rate, and consequences of evolutionary changes in the associations between tiny consumers and their hosts.
Many tiny consumers—whether insects, parasitic worms or viruses—are quite faithful over a long evolutionary time to particular kinds of hosts, whether plants or animals. They become even more closely tied to feeding on parts of their hosts, such as roots, stems, leaves, or seeds (or particular animal organs or tissue types). In these ways, beetles evolve like other tiny consumers, specialized for attacking only one kind of organ even when they switch hosts. It is our hope that we find how this evolutionary stasis works through comparative studies of the genomic architectures of their various traits concerning interactions with hosts; to understand just why what seems so obvious is true. Despite their often strongly conserved association with a certain kind of host, it’s nevertheless easier for tiny consumers to change addresses than professions.
Recent Publications
Wang, Z., S. Kim, B. D. Farrell and B. A. S. de Medeiros (2025). Customizable PCR-based target enrichment probes for sequencing fungi-parasitized insects. Insect Science 32(2): 719-724. https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.13413
McKenna, D. D., R. G. Oberprieler, A. E. Marvaldi, S. D. J. Brown, M. A. Charles, B. A. S. de Medeiros, B. D. Farrell, R. A. B. Leschen, J. R. M. Mermudes, K. S. Orellana, S. Shin, R. Stals and X. Li (2025). Unravelling the evolution of mycetophagy and phytophagy in fungus weevils (Curculionoidea: Anthribidae): Phylogenomic insights into Anthribinae paraphyly and tribal non‐monophyly. Systematic Entomology. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12674
Kim, S. and B. D. Farrell (2025). Target enrichment museomics of the Asian long‐horned beetle and its relatives (Cerambycidae: Anoplophora) reveals two independent origins of life in the cold. Systematic Entomology 50(1): 139-153. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12647
Hernandez, A. M. and B. D. Farrell (2025). Get a grip: evaluating the importance of different beetle tarsal structures in landing attachment. Journal of Experimental Biology 228(15). https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.249823
Farrell, B. D. (2025). The Biology of Inequality. ReVista : Harvard Review of Latin America. Cambridge, MA, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University. 24. https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/the-biology-of-inequality/
Farrell, B. D. (2025). The Martyrs of Louisiana. ReVista : Harvard Review of Latin America. Cambridge, MA, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University. https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/the-martyrs-of-louisiana/
Silva, F. L. d., B. A. S. de Medeiros and B. D. Farrell (2024). Once upon a fly: The biogeographical odyssey of Labrundinia (Chironomidae, Tanypodinae), an aquatic non-biting midge towards diversification. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 194: 108025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108025
McKenna, D. D., B. D. Farrell, A. E. Marvaldi, R. G. Oberprieler and X. Li (2024). Phylogenomics of palynophagous pine cone weevils (Coleoptera: Cimberididae) recovers the monophyly of Cimberidini and Doydirhynchini and reveals the paraphyly of Cimberis. European Journal of Entomology 121: 435-442. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2024.047
Li, X., A. E. Marvaldi, R. G. Oberprieler, D. Clarke, B. D. Farrell, A. Sequeira, M. S. Ferrer, C. O'Brien, S. Salzman, S. Shin, W. Tang and D. D. McKenna (2024). The evolutionary history of the ancient weevil family Belidae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) reveals the marks of Gondwana breakup and major floristic turnovers, including the rise of angiosperms. eLife 13: RP97552. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.97552
Kawahara, A. Y., D. R. Miller, M. Alma Solis and B. D. Farrell (2024). Charles Mitter (1948–2024) Evolutionary Biologist, Consortium Builder, and Leader in Insect Evolutionary Biology. American Entomologist 70(3): 58. https://doi.org/10.1093/ae/tmae051
Gutierrez-Trejo, N., M. H. Van Dam, A. W. Lam, G. Martinez-Herrera, F. A. Noguera, T. Weissling, J. L. Ware, V. H. Toledo-Hernandez, F. W. Skillman, Jr., B. D. Farrell, O. Perez-Flores, L. Prendini and J. M. Carpenter (2024). Phylogenomics of Tetraopes longhorn beetles unravels their evolutionary history and biogeographic origins. Sci Rep 14(1): 7285. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-57827-z
Gorring, P. S. and B. D. Farrell (2023). Evaluating species boundaries using coalescent delimitation in pine-killing Monochamus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) sawyer beetles. Mol Phylogenet Evol 184: 107777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107777
Courses Taught
OEB 10: Foundations of Biological Diversity
OEB 341: Coevolution
FRSEMR 22T: Why We Animals Sing
BIOS S-158: Study Abroad in the Dominican Republic: Biodiversity of the Dominican Republic