#  Thalles Platiny Lavinscky Pereira 

Associate, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

 

 

 



   ![Thalles Lavinscky Pereira, smiling and holding a drawer of insect specimens, in front of gray collections cabinets](/sites/g/files/omnuum6366/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/farrell/files/thalles_2023_0.jpg?itok=MP3_5z36) 

 



 

 location\_on Museum of Comparative Zoology Harvard University 26 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 

 email <tlavinsckypereira@fas.harvard.edu> 

 



 

## MCZ Biodiversity Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023-2025

### 50 new species for the 49th state - Alaska: using integrative taxonomy to illuminate a dark taxon (Diptera: Phoridae)

Thalles’ research focuses on the diversity of flies (Diptera), especially the Phoridae family, using morphological and molecular data (barcoding with nanopore sequencing technology). Additionally, his interests include natural history collections-based research, taxonomy, systematics, and co-phylogeny of ant parasitoid flies (*Apocephalus* series: Phoridae: Diptera). Although his previous papers and new species described (9) were based on neotropical specimens, his new project will focus on Alaskan and Beringian specimens (from +40°C to -40°C!). He will be using Large-scale Integrative Taxonomy, aiming to better understand the diversity of Phoridae in the Arctic and Subarctic Regions and its distribution patterns across Alaska, Canada, and Sweden.

**Recent activities:**

[Science Spotlight at the Harvard Museum of Natural History](/news/event-science-spotlight-hmnh): "How to Help a Scientist Find a New Species."

[Discussing snakeworm gnats](/news/new-species-podcast-episod) on the New Species podcast

**Recent Publication:**

Boeger WA, Valim MP, Zaher H, Rafael JA, Forzza RC, Percequillo AR, Serejo CS, Garraffoni ARS, Santos AJ, Pereira TPLavinsc, et al. [Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: Setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil](/publications/cat%C3%A1logo-taxon%C3%B4mico-da-fauna-do-brasil-setting-baseline-knowledge-animal-0). Zoologia (Curitiba). 2024;41 :e24005. [DOI (full text)](https://doi.org/10.1590/S1984-4689.v41.e24005)



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Role
    
     [Associates](/role/associates)