Brian D. Farrell

Monique and Philip Lehner Professor for the Study of Latin America
Professor of Biology, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology,
Curator of Entomology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Faculty Dean of Leverett House of Harvard College

Faculty Support: Amie Jones

Much of our work tests hypotheses concerning the influence of spatial and temporal variation in the availability of habitats or other resources on speciation and the rate of evolution of interspecific interactions. Our data are largely phylogenetic, based on variation in DNA sequences and morphological characters, and our studies vary in focus from principally ecological dimensions of resource use to emphasis on biogeographic or paleontological dimensions. Our general goal to understand the interplay of adaptation and historical contingency in ecological and taxonomic diversification, as well as the marks of evolutionary history on community structure. The context of nearly all of our studies is the interaction between insects and plants, ecological associates whose diversity and abundance make them the principal denizens of the terrestrial earth.

Recent Publications

Wiedenbrug S, Laurindo da Silva F. 2016. Diplosmittia caribensis, a new Orthocladiinae (Diptera: Chironomidae) from the Dominican Republic. Zootaxa 4103 (1) :71–74.

Farrell BD. 2016. Music and Nature: From Humpbacks to Harvard. ReVista : Harvard Review of Latin America. 15 (2) :2-4

Mckenna DD, Farrell BD, Caterino MS, Farnum CW, Hawks DC, Maddison DR, Seago AE, Short AEZ, Newton AF, Thayer MK. 2015. Phylogeny and evolution of Staphyliniformia and Scarabaeiformia: forest litter as a stepping stone for diversification of nonphytophagous beetles. Systematic Entomology. 40 (1) :35-60

Evans AM, Mckenna DD, Bellamy CL, Farrell BD. 2015. Large-scale molecular phylogeny of metallic wood-boring beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestoidea) provides new insights into relationships and reveals multiple evolutionary origins of the larval leaf-mining habit. Systematic Entomology. 40 (2) :385-400.

Laurindo da Silva F, Trivinho-strixino S, Silva Neubern de Oliveira C. 2015. Chironomidae types in the reference collection of the Laboratory of Ecology of Aquatic Insects, São Carlos, Brazil. CHIRONOMUS Journal of Chironomidae Research. 28: 20–29

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