My research interests are in the field of evolutionary biology, taxonomy, systematics, and biogeography, focusing on understanding the amphibian and reptile diversity and distribution patterns in tropical regions. I completed my PhD in 2024 developing a project entitled "Molecular taxonomic species identification applied to the study of the herpetofauna of Madagascar" under the supervision of Dr. A. Crottini and Dr. F. Andreone. In my work I generated several novel sequences of a fragment of the 16S rRNA gene or of the cytochrome oxydase subunit I as genetic markers. These sequences were used to refine reference sequence databases, with a special focus on the frog family Mantellidae. I used molecular species identification to assign updated taxonomic nomenclature to the analyzed unidentified material. Combining genetic data with morphological analyses of specimens from museum collections, I applied this method in several areas, e.g. confirming an historical distributional species records, cataloging species diversity in forest areas, formally describing candidate species, and studying body size evolution of mantellid frogs relative to geographic and ecological variables; with the final goal to progress our knowledge on the taxonomy and systematics of Malagasy herpetofauna. For my Master in Evolutionary Biology, I spent 4 months in Tanzania for my thesis project entitled "Species richness and biogeographic affinities of the herpetofauna in some forest fragments of southern Tanzania" carried out in collaboration with the Tropical Biodiversity Department of the Science Museum of Trento (Italy) under the supervision of Dr. M. Menegon. Here I investigated and compared the herpetofauna diversity and species richness in the selected understudied forest fragments, on both sides of a low-lying and dry area historically considered a biogeographic barrier preventing the dispersal of fauna on the two main Tanzanian mountain groups, the Eastern Arc and the Southern Highlands. In 2018, I volunteered for 2.5 months in Madagascar in a project on the diversity of lemurs, rodents and reptiles (geckos and chameleons) in rainforest habitat. During this experience, I performed presence data collection in diurnal and nocturnal species by point observations during linear transects. I also collaborated on the data collection to estimate nocturnal lemurs abundance by line transect distance sampling surveys, and I became familiar with the use of Sherman traps. I also performed opportunistic captures of reptiles, collecting data on morphometric measurements and tissue sampling.