# Brian D. Farrell Sabbatical Academic Year 2025-2026 Monique and Philip Lehner Professor for the Study of Latin America Professor of Biology Curator of Entomology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology ![Brian D. Farrell with grey beard and hair, wearing white short sleeve button down, with spike green leaves behind him](/sites/g/files/omnuum6811/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/oeb/files/farrell.jpg?itok=FvW-eggg) location\_on The Museum of Comparative Zoology Labs26 Oxford StreetCambridge, MA 02138 email laptop\_windows [Farrell Lab](http://farrell.oeb.harvard.edu/) Faculty Support: [Amie Jones](/people/amie-jones) My lab and I work on the evolution of interactions between different kinds of tiny consumers, especially beetles and other arthropods, and their much larger hosts, such as plants or large animals. We use phylogenetics to understand the directions, rate, and consequences of evolutionary changes in the associations between tiny consumers and their hosts. Many tiny consumers—whether insects, parasitic worms or viruses—are quite faithful over a long evolutionary time to particular kinds of hosts, whether plants or animals. They become even more closely tied to feeding on parts of their hosts, such as roots, stems, leaves, or seeds (or particular animal organs or tissue types). In these ways, beetles evolve like other tiny consumers, specialized for attacking only one kind of organ even when they switch hosts. It is our hope that we find how this evolutionary stasis works through comparative studies of the genomic architectures of their various traits concerning interactions with hosts; to understand just why what seems so obvious is true. Despite their often strongly conserved association with a certain kind of host, it’s nevertheless easier for tiny consumers to change addresses than professions. **Recent Publications** Wang, Z., S. Kim, **B. D. Farrell** and B. A. S. de Medeiros (2025). Customizable PCR-based target enrichment probes for sequencing fungi-parasitized insects. Insect Science 32(2): 719-724. McKenna, D. D., R. G. Oberprieler, A. E. Marvaldi, S. D. J. Brown, M. A. Charles, B. A. S. de Medeiros, **B. D. Farrell**, R. A. B. Leschen, J. R. M. Mermudes, K. S. Orellana, S. Shin, R. Stals and X. Li (2025). Unravelling the evolution of mycetophagy and phytophagy in fungus weevils (Curculionoidea: Anthribidae): Phylogenomic insights into Anthribinae paraphyly and tribal non‐monophyly. Systematic Entomology. Kim, S. and **B. D. Farrell** (2025). Target enrichment museomics of the Asian long‐horned beetle and its relatives (Cerambycidae: Anoplophora) reveals two independent origins of life in the cold. Systematic Entomology 50(1): 139-153. Hernandez, A. M. and **B. D. Farrell** (2025). Get a grip: evaluating the importance of different beetle tarsal structures in landing attachment. Journal of Experimental Biology 228(15). **Farrell, B. D.** (2025). The Biology of Inequality. ReVista : Harvard Review of Latin America. Cambridge, MA, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University. 24. **Farrell, B. D.** (2025). The Martyrs of Louisiana. ReVista : Harvard Review of Latin America. Cambridge, MA, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University. Silva, F. L. d., B. A. S. de Medeiros and **B. D. Farrell** (2024). Once upon a fly: The biogeographical odyssey of Labrundinia (Chironomidae, Tanypodinae), an aquatic non-biting midge towards diversification. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 194: 108025. McKenna, D. D., **B. D. Farrell**, A. E. Marvaldi, R. G. Oberprieler and X. Li (2024). Phylogenomics of palynophagous pine cone weevils (Coleoptera: Cimberididae) recovers the monophyly of Cimberidini and Doydirhynchini and reveals the paraphyly of Cimberis. European Journal of Entomology 121: 435-442. Li, X., A. E. Marvaldi, R. G. Oberprieler, D. Clarke, **B. D. Farrell**, A. Sequeira, M. S. Ferrer, C. O'Brien, S. Salzman, S. Shin, W. Tang and D. D. McKenna (2024). The evolutionary history of the ancient weevil family Belidae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) reveals the marks of Gondwana breakup and major floristic turnovers, including the rise of angiosperms. eLife 13: RP97552. Kawahara, A. Y., D. R. Miller, M. Alma Solis and **B. D. Farrell** (2024). Charles Mitter (1948–2024) Evolutionary Biologist, Consortium Builder, and Leader in Insect Evolutionary Biology. American Entomologist 70(3): 58. Gutierrez-Trejo, N., M. H. Van Dam, A. W. Lam, G. Martinez-Herrera, F. A. Noguera, T. Weissling, J. L. Ware, V. H. Toledo-Hernandez, F. W. Skillman, Jr., **B. D. Farrell**, O. Perez-Flores, L. Prendini and J. M. Carpenter (2024). Phylogenomics of Tetraopes longhorn beetles unravels their evolutionary history and biogeographic origins. Sci Rep 14(1): 7285. Gorring, P. S. and **B. D. Farrell** (2023). Evaluating species boundaries using coalescent delimitation in pine-killing Monochamus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) sawyer beetles. Mol Phylogenet Evol 184: 107777. **Courses Taught** OEB 10: Foundations of Biological Diversity OEB 341: Coevolution FRSEMR 22T: Why We Animals Sing BIOS S-158: Study Abroad in the Dominican Republic: Biodiversity of the Dominican Republic - ## Building [MCZ Labs](/building/mcz-labs) - ## Faculty Affiliation [Museum of Comparative Zoology](/faculty-affiliation/museum-comparative-zoology) - ## Lab Group [Farrell Lab Members](/lab-group/farrell-lab) - ## People [Faculty](/people/faculty) [Department Faculty](/people/department-faculty) - ## Research Areas [Evolution](/research-areas/evolution) [Ecology](/research-areas/ecology) [Biodiversity & Systematics](/research-areas/biodiversity-and-systematics) [Neuroethology & Behavioral Ecology](/research-areas/neuroethology-and-behavioral-ecology) [Population & Evolutionary Genetics](/research-areas/population-and-evolutionary-genetics) - ## Search by Last Name [E-H](/search-last-name/e-h)