papr0002@umn.edu

B.S., Biology, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais. Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 1993.

M.Sc., Entomology, Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, 1997

Ph.D. candidate; Advisor: Dr. Ralph Holzenthal

I was born in one of the more important river basins of Brazil. Crossing the country from the southeast to the northeast the Sao Francisco River starts in Minas Gerais, a beautiful state in the Brazilian highlands. As a little boy, I use to ride my bicycle to waterfalls and streams by the city to swim and have fun, developing in my soul a strong connection with water and nature. I visited waterfalls and streams in a wider circle while I was in college; one of the things that always amazed me as I turned over rocks in the streams, was the diversity of aquatic insects. Once, snorkeling in a big natural pool, I was fascinated by big tubes made of rock fragments. They were built to perfection and clustered on the rocks in hundreds.

My master's degree advisor, Dr. Claudio Froelich, taught me the beauty of being a naturalist. Studying aquatic insect ecology with him led me to greater curiosity and fascination with all aquatic insects, and especially Trichoptera.

The caddisfly larvae that made those tubes were Barypenthus claudens and were the subject of my first taxonomic revision. I am still going to the streams and waterfalls to turn over rocks and collect insects; this is definitely one of the joys of my life.