I started working on the systematics of Neotropical weevils as an undergraduate student with Dr. Analía Lanteri in 2000, at the Museo de La Plata in Argentina. I have focussed in the tribe Naupactini and published several papers on this topic. In 2009 I got my PhD, with a dissertation on the “Systematics of the Naupactini weevils from the high Andes of South America”, advised by Analía Lanteri and Adriana Marvaldi. 

My work is mainly morphology-based systematics, and when posible I incorporate molecular data. I use to complement my work with biogeography, phylogeny, and evolutionary aspects.

As a taxonomist in South America I have been faced with the problem that most material and all the types of Neotropical species are deposited overseas. I have had the possibility to visit the main collections hosting Naupactini types and material around the Word (Turin Museum of Natural History, Italy; Muséum National d'Histoire naturelle, France; Museu Nacional, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo, Museo Emilio Goeldi, Brazil; Natural History Museum, England; Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Sweden; Museum für Naturkunde, Museum Dresden - Senckenberg Museum, Germany; Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, American Museum of Natural History, Charles O'Brien Collection, USA) and studied material, took notes and photographs of the types, and also sorted and identified all the Naupactini material. I very much like curatorial tasks and enjoy working in museums.

I am very interested in trait evolution, mainly related with adaptations to the environment, such as those related to oviposition. Also, the distributional patterns of the species and their ecological niche, and coevolutionary aspects of weevils with endosymbiotic bacteria (e.g., related to parthenogenesis).

My goal is to continue working on the Entiminae at higher and wider levels, but with particular focus on the Southern Hemisphere, so as to identify and delimit the Gondwanan tribes of the subfamily. 

I am very interested in establishing collaborations to facilitate the work of weevil researchers.

You can find my papers at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maria-Del-Rio-3

A database about Naupactini of Argentina https://biodar.unlp.edu.ar/naupactini/