Varpu Vahtera
PhD, Adjunct professor
varpu.vahtera@utu.fi +358 29 450 4176 +358 50 411 0355 Vesilinnantie 5 Turku Office: 164 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6710-6358 |
Molecular systematics; Chilopoda
I work as a curator of myriapodology and arachnology at the Zoological Museum. I obtained my Master's degree from the University of Turku (2003) and PhD degree from the University of Helsinki (2008). I have conducted two postdoctoral periods, one at Museum of Comparative Zoology (Harvard University) and one at the Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS). Despite of my strong laboratory background, fieldwork
is very close to my heart.
I am a molecular systematist studying the diversity and evolutionary relationships of both invertebrates and vertebrates. My main research focus is on scolopendromorph centipedes but I am also involved in many other projects studying the diversity of e.g. millipedes, arachnids, amphibians and reptiles from all over the world.
- Sympatric occurrence of three leaf beetle species of Macroplea Samouelle, 1819 (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Donaciinae) in Finland with a key to species in Northern Europe (2018)
- Aquatic Insects
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Description of a new species of Vinathela Ono, 2000 (Araneae: Mesothelae: Liphistiidae), based on morphological and molecular characters (2017)
- Arachnology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Phylogenetic relationships of millipedes in the subclass Penicillata (Diplopoda) with a key to the genera (2017)
- Journal of Natural History
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Reinstatement of Varanus douarrha Lesson, 1830 as a valid species with comments on the zoogeography of monitor lizards (Squamata:Varanidae) in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea (2016)
- Australian Journal of Zoology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Nine genera of Eucnemidae (Coleoptera) new to Peru, with a key to Peruvian genera (2015)
- Biodiversity data journal
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Populations of the damselfly Coenagrion hastulatum at the edge of the species range have fewer gregarine and water mite parasites (2015)
- Freshwater Biology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Species limits and phylogeography of Newportia (Scolopendromorpha) and implications for widespread morphospecies (2015)
- ZooKeys
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Evaluating topological conflict in centipede phylogeny using transcriptomic data sets (2014)
- Molecular Biology and Evolution
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - First molecular data and the phylogenetic position of the millipede-like centipede Edentistoma octosulcatum Tömösváry, 1882 (chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha: Scolopendridae) (2014)
- PLoS ONE
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Unveiling of a cryptic Dicranomyia (Idiopyga) from northern Finland using integrative approach (Diptera, Limoniidae) (2014)
- Biodiversity data journal
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Phylogenetics of scolopendromorph centipedes: can denser taxon sampling improve an artificial classification? (2013)
- Invertebrate Systematics
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - A scolopocryptopid centipede (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) from Mexican amber: synchrotron microtomography and phylogenetic placement using a combined morphological and molecular data set (2012)
- Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Comparative description of ten transcriptomes of newly sequenced invertebrates and efficiency estimation of genomic sampling in non-model taxa (2012)
- Frontiers in Zoology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Evolution of blindness in scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha): insight from an expanded sampling of molecular data (2012)
- Cladistics
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Spiracle structure in scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) and its contribution to phylogenetics (2012)
- Zoomorphology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Running WILD: the case for exploring mixed parameter sets in sensitivity analysis (2011)
- Cladistics
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Phylogeny of the Thylacosterninae (Coleoptera, Elateridae) (2009)
- Cladistics
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)