Since 2018 I am the PI of the research group BIOGEOGRAPHY and EVOLUTION @CIBIO/InBIO: https://cibio.up.pt/en/groups/biogeography-and-evolution-bioevol/description/; where I am working as a an Auxiliary Researcher (CEEC Individual 3ª edição: 2020.00823.CEECIND) and where I recently have been awarded a Principal Researcher (CEEC Individual 6ª edição: 2023.08548.CEECIND). We use the amphibians and reptiles of Madagascar as a model system and fieldwork expeditions are a vital component of the group¿ research. Research is organized along the following four scientific lines: 1) Taxonomy and Systematics: A Crottini has an in-depth knowledge of the rich herpetofauna of Madagascar. Many new species have been described in the last 30 years, but we are still far from having a complete list of the amphibians and reptile species inhabiting Madagascar. This work is essential to fill the knowledge gap on the least known vertebrate groups of the island, their diversity, phylogenetic relationships and distribution. Generating this knowledge is essential to understand the broad pattern of species diversification across the island, the first step toward uncovering the evolutionary history of Madagascar¿s megadiversity. The group combine fieldwork research with the use of a highly integrative taxonomic approach that rely on molecular taxonomic identification and on the comparative analyses of museum specimen to promote the cataloguing of Malagasy herpetofauna. 2) Biogeography and evolution of Madagascar biodiversity: Madagascar is an ideal evolutionary laboratory where to study the patterns and processes of species diversification. Most of its extant fauna is the result of species diversification processes that took place within the island starting from a limited number of ancient colonizers that reach Madagascar after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction (66 Ma), when Madagascar was already an island. The group combines traditional Sanger sequencing, ancientDNA techniques, whole-transcriptome shotgun sequencing and capture sequencing to obtain robust time-calibrated phylogentic hypothesis that can be used to study the biogeographic history of the unique radiations of Madagascar. 3) Anuran evolution: Frogs and toads are solitary animals that mostly interact during their breeding season. During this season, many species develop special glands (the Sexually Dimorphic Skin Breeding Glands - SDSBGs) known to release chemical signals, which are suspected to play a pivotal role in species recognition and mate choice. Mantellid frogs of Madagascar show a high diversity of SDSBGs, making them a superb system to characterize a wide diversity of chemosignals, describe their synthetic pathways, the transmission mechanisms, determine their role in promoting and maintaining assortative mating and, ultimately, speciations. The group combines transcriptomics and gene expression analyses, proteomics, histology, and behavioural tests to characterize the products of these glands and study their contribution towards species diversification. 4) Amphibian conservation. A Crottini is the regional Co-chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Amphibian Specialist Group - Madagascar, working on a strategy for the conservation of Malagasy amphibians and having contributed to the development and implementation of the first (2006) and second (2016) Action Plan for Amphibian Conservation of Madagascar. She is a member of the Technical Advisory Group of the Asian Toad Control and Mitigation Programme, established to fight the spread and mitigate the impacts of the invasive Asian toad in Madagascar. She is collaborating with local NGOs and authorities to identify priority native species and high-value protected areas that are likely to be impacted by the inva