Staff profile

Juanita Rodriguez is a research scientist at the Australian National Insect Collection. Her research focuses on the use of morphological and molecular data to study the systematics, diversification, evolution and historical biogeography of terrestrial arthropods. Most of her research has been dedicated to Hymenoptera, more specifically ants and spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae). Recent projects include the use of transcriptome data to study the phylogenomics of two ancient terrestrial arthropod groups: spiders (Araneae) and millipedes (Diplopoda).

She grew up in Bogotá, Colombia, where she obtained her B.Sc and M.Sc degrees at Universidad Nacional de Colombia. In 2014 she obtained her Ph.D. at Utah State University. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Auburn University between 2014-2016.

In August, 2016 she joined the Australian National Insect Collection.