Dr. Arnaud Faille
Bavarian State Collection of Zoology
Arnaud is a French researcher associated with the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology of Munich (Germany). The main focus of his research is understanding the origin and evolution of insect biodiversity, its inventory and its description, with Coleoptera as his primary focus. During recent years Arnaud has studied phylogenetic relationships, biogeography, convergent adaptations to subterranean environments and speciation of Trechinae, one of the most species-rich radiations of ground beetles of the World. Arnaud is especially interested in the historical biogeography of this group, as it is one of the few insects to have successfully colonised subantarctic islands.
Key publications
Faille A, Tänzler R, and Toussaint EFA (2015) On the way to speciation: Shedding light on the karstic phylogeography of the micro-endemic cave beetle Aphaenops cerberus in the Pyrenees. Journal of Heredity, 106: 692–699. DOI: 10.1093/jhered/esv078
Faille A and Pluot-Sigwalt D (2015) Convergent reduction of ovariole number associated with subterranean life in beetles. PLoS ONE, 10(7): e0131986. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131986
Faille A, Bourdeau C, and Deharveng L (2015) Weak impact of tourism activities on biodiversity in a subterranean hotspot of endemism and its implications for the conservation of cave fauna. Insect Conservation and Diversity, 8: 205–215. DOI: 10.1111/icad.12097
Faille A, Andújar C, Fadrique F, and Ribera I (2014) Late Miocene origin of a Ibero-Maghrebian clade of ground beetles with multiple colonizations of the subterranean environment. Journal of Biogeography, 41: 1979–1990. DOI: 10.1111/jbi.12349
Faille A, Casale A, Balke M, and Ribera I (2013) A molecular Phylogeny of Alpine subterranean Trechini (Coleoptera: Carabidae). BMC Evolutionary Biology, 13: 248. DOI:10.1186/1471-2148-13-248