CV

Education, degrees:

1997: PhD in Entomology, St. Petersburg State University, St. petersburg, Russia.

1993: University Diploma in Biology, Kuban State University, Krasnodar, Russia.

Past employment:

Assistant Professor/Curator (2007-2010), University of Copenhagen/ Natural History Museum of Denmark, Zoological Museum;

Post Doctoral Research Scientist (2002-2007), Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA;

Research Assistant (1997-2001), Researcher (2001-2002), Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Science, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Research Associate at: Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA (2007-2012).

Editorial responsibilities: Member of the editorial boards of: "Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift", "Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae", and "Caucasian Entomological Bulletin". 

Short presentation

Scientific interests: I am a beetle systematist, mainly focussing on rove beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), the largest family of living organisms. Together with students we base our systematic work on phylogenetics amalgamating holomorphology and genomics of recent species with the study of fossils. We capture evolutionary patterns at various temporal and spacial dimensions: from intraspecific variation to big lineage formation. We discover natural groups meaningful in the modern and deep paleo-ecological prospectives that form the base for biological classification. I welcome collaboration with anybody who needs my taxonomic expertise, and prioritise training of young systematists with interdisciplinary outlook. Finally, I really like escapes from the desk for beetle collecting!

Solodovnikov Lab and Current research directions: 1) Phylogeny and species-level revisions of the poorly known rove beetle lineages, especially Staphylininae and allied; 2) Taxonomic, phylogenetic and biogeographic studies of the selected groups of Staphylinidae; 3) Eco-faunistics of Staphylinidae and Coleoptera, especially in the Palearctic region; 4) Data integration in systematic entomology.

Coordinator of BIG4, Innovative Training Network in systematic entomology  

Collection curation: I oversee the Beetle (Coleoptera) Collection (>4 million specimens, worldwide coverage). The collection assistant and lab administrator Sree Gayathree Selvantharan, lab-associated students and qualified volunteers are instrumental in collection curation, service to visiting scientists, and processing loan requests. The Danish faunistic beetle collection also enjoys support by Jan Pedersen.

Teaching

Entomology: structure, phylogeny and biology of terrestrial arthropods (with other staff members/ research associates of the Entomology Department; for 3rd or 4th year students in spring terms).

Diversity of terrestrial arthropods: undergraduate field course (with other staff members/ research associates of the Entomology Department; for 1st year students in spring terms).