Rodolphe ROUGERIE

RESEARCH INTERESTS

I am a researcher and curator for Lepidoptera at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris. My research activities aim at documenting and understanding the diversity of terrestrial invertebrates on Earth. Although not exclusive, my main focus is Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), with a special interest for their systematics and their evolutionary history and in particular for members of two emblematic families: Saturniidae (Wild Silkmoths) and Sphingidae (Hawkmoths).The approaches used combine methods from phylogenomics, integrative taxonomy (morphology and DNA barcoding), community ecology (using metabarcoding), biogeography and macroecology.

ONGOING PROJECTS

• Macroecology : Diversity and distribution patterns in World Saturniidae and Sphingidae ; diversification of the neotropical biota. Coordinator for CESAB of the ACTIAS project funded by the French Research Foundation for Biodiversity (FRB). Consortium : Liliana Ballesteros (Postdoc at MNHN) ; Jan Beck - University of Basel (Switzerland) ; Thibaud Decaëns- Université de Montpellier, CEFE (France) ; Paul D. N. Hebert - University of Guelph (Canada) ; Ian J. Kitching - Natural History Museum (London, UK) ; Sébastien Lavergne - CNRS, LECA (Grenoble, France) ; Carlos Lopez‐Vaamonde - INRA, URZF (Orléans, France) ; Hélène Morlon - CNRS, ENS (Paris, France) ; Jérôme Murienne - CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France) ; Stuart Pimm - Duke University (USA) ; Jean-Yves Rasplus - INRA (Montpellier, France) ; Sujeevan Ratnasingham - University of Guelph (Canada)"

 

• Species boundaries, phylogeny and diversification history in Copaxa and Actian moths (Saturniidae, Saturniinae) ; main collaborators : Pierre Arnal (PhD student at MNHN), Jean-Yves Rasplus & Astrid Cruaud (INRA, CBGP), Thibaud Decaëns (CEFE, Univ. Montpellier 2), Marianne Elias (CNRS, MNHN)

 

• Species boundaries, phylogeny and diversification history in venomous caterpillars of genus Lonomia(Saturniidae, Hemileucinae) ; main collaborators : Pierre Arnal (PhD student at MNHN), Juana Diaz Diaz (MSc student, UniAndes, Bogota), Camila Gonzalez Rosas (UniAndes, Bogota), Mailyn Gonzalez (Humboldt Institute, Bogota), Thibaud Decaëns (CEFE, Univ. Montpellier 2)

 

• Metabarcoding of European saproxylic beetles (PASSIFOR & CLIMTREE projects) ; main collaborators : Lucas Sire (INRA & IRBI, PhD student), Carlos Lopez-Vaamonde (INRA, URZF), Carlos Bouget (IRSTEA, Nogent sur Vernisson)

 

• Hidden diversity in European Gracillariidae micromoths ; main collaborator : Carlos Lopez-Vaamonde (INRA URZF)

 

• DNA-barcoding of Lepidopteran and other invertebrate communities in French Guiana and in Gabon ; main collaborators : Carlos Lopez-Vaamonde, Thibaud Decaëns, David Porco.

 

• DNA barcoding and Metabarcoding of New-Caledonian insects ; main collaborators: Frédéric Legendre (ISYEB), Philippe Grandcolas (ISYEB), Hadrien Jouanne (MSc student), Thibaut Ramage

 

• DNA barcoding of Corsican insects; program “La Planète Revisitée” (coord. Julien Touroult, Olivier Pascal)

 

Education and research experience

• 2013 - 2014 : Postdoctoral Fellow at INRA-URZF, Orléans, France. Supervisors : Carlos Lopez-Vaamonde (URZF) & Christophe Bouget (IRSTEA, Nogent Sur Vernisson).

 

• 2010 - 2013 : Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate at the University of Rouen, France in ECODIV lab. Supervisor : Prof. Thibaud Decaëns

 

• 2006 - 2010 : Postdoctoral Fellow at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Supervisor : Paul D. N. Hebert

 

• 2005 : PhD “Phylogeny and biogeography of the Saturniinae (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae) : morphological and molecular approach”, MNHN Paris (supervisor : Prof. Joël Minet)

 

• 2000 : M. Sc. In “Animals and Plants Systematics”, MNHN Paris, 2000

 

• 1997 : M. A. “Populations and Ecosystem Biology”, University of Toulouse, 1997

 

Fieldwork experience

Insect collecting (light-traps, pitfalls, bait traps, Malaise traps, glass-panel traps) in temperate (Europe, Canada) and tropical regions (South- and Central-America, Central Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia)

Extraction of soil invertebrates (Berlese funnels, earthworm chemical extraction)

 

Books & book chapters

• Rougerie R : Etonnants insectes. Fleurus Ed., Paris, France ; 2006, 80pp.+1 DVD.http://www.fleurusvoir.com/voir.swf
   
• Delmas S, Deschamps P, Sibert JM, Chabrol L, Rougerie R : Guide écologique des Papillons du Limousin, Lépidoptères Rhopalocères [Ecological guide of the butterflies of Limousin], SEL Ed., Limoges, France ; 2000, 416pp.