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Biography
I am an evolutionary biologist from Brazil, and my research is focused on morphological and evolutionary studies of neotropical mammals. Currently, I work on adaptive aspects of carnivory in rodents.
Rafaela Missagia
Postdoctoral Researcher
Field Museum of Natural History
Interests
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Morphological Evolution
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Functional Morphology
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Phylogenetic Comparative Methods
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Stable Isotopes
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Neotropical Mammals
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Rodents
EDUCATION
2015-2019
Ph.D. in Zoology
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
(With a period at the Field Museum of Natural History)
2012-2014
M.Sc. in Ecology and Conservation
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
2007-2012
B.Sc. in Biological Sciences
Universidade Federal de Lavras
Fieldwork, Serra do Rola-Moça, Minas Gerais, Brasil
Fieldwork, Parque Nacional Cavernas do Peruaçu, Minas Gerais, Brazil (photo by Bárbara Rossi)
Screening paleontological material, Aurora do Tocantins, Tocantins, Brazil
Fieldwork, Serra do Rola-Moça, Minas Gerais, Brasil
RESEARCH
STABLE ISOTOPES OF MAMMALS
Using a new proxy to elucidate trophic relations of living and fossil mammals.
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ECOMORPHOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF CARNIVOROUS
RODENTS
Understanding how diet affects skull morphology of rodents, using geometric morphometrics, CTscan techniques and phylogenetic comparative methods.
PUBLICATIONS
Missagia, R. V., Patterson, B. D., Krentzel, D., Perini, F. A. Insectivory leads to functional convergence in a group of Neotropical rodents. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2021.
Gasparini, G. M., Parisi Dutra, R., Perini, F. A., Croft, D. A., Cozzuol, M. A., Missagia, R. V., Lucas, S. G. On the Supposed Presence of Miocene Tayassuidae and Dromomerycinae (Mammalia, Cetartiodactyla) in South America. American Museum Novitates, v. 3968, p. 1-27, 2021.
NEWS
Showing "weird" rodents at the Field Museum's Members Night!
I participated in the effort to publicize the research done at the Field Museum at Members Night. I showed some rodent species to try to create awareness about their morphological and ecological diversity. Everyone seemed to love the so-called "potato rat" (a name for a Myospalax that I made up on the spot to entertain kids)!
April 2023
Poster presentation on the virtual dissection of the masticatory musculature of Blarinomys breviceps at the SICB regional meeting.
I landed in Chicago and went straight to the regional meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology at the University of Chicago. Luckily, I arrived in time to present some results of my last postdoc on the comparison of the masticatory musculature of Akodontini rodents from CTscan images, focusing on Blarinomys breviceps. Great opportunity to talk to several researchers and watch incredible lectures!
April 2023
The Women in Science UFMG became Girls in Science for a day!
Last week, we, as the group of Women in Science at UFMG, invited girls who are in elementary school to learn about the work done by women scientists at our institution, so that they would see a scientific career as a viable one. I showed them some mammals from the collection (they LOVED the bats), and they had the craziest questions ("if we know so little about the oceans, why don't you study oceans more?", or "is megalodon real?"). It was such a fun and meaningful experience, and we hope to do this often!
March 2023
