Description of research and teaching

I use integrative methods, that is, combine morphological, genomic, and paleontological data to study the diversity, phylogenetic relationships, and evolutionary history of insects.

My project is funded by the Research Council of Finland and explores the evolutionary history of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) and their sistergroup, Trichoptera (caddisflies). Lepidoptera are one of the largest groups of terrestrial insects, whereas Trichoptera have considerably fewer species and have an aquatic larval stage. We aim to understand when these two insect orders with very different life histories evolved and how they have been affected by events in the history of Earth. This brings important information as we seek to predict, for example, effects of climate change on living organisms.

Courses I teach at the University of Helsinki include Extended insect identification and Biological collections.