Post-doctoral Researcher
florian.braig@oulu.fi
My work focuses on the relationship between morphology and ecology in arthropods. Currently, I am working on a new way to measure biodiversity and ecosystem functioning using the morphology of freshwater arthropods and eDNA metabarcoding of freshwater environments. In the past I worked on the changes of morphology during evolution and development in crabs and holometabolan insects, integrating extant and fossil material.
Keywords
Current Projects
Grants & Fundings
2026, personal grant, Finnish Cultural Foundation.
One year funding for conducting research on the project “phenoshAIpe”.
2025, SAFIRE, Research Council of Finland.
Postdoc – Safeguarding biodiversity through interdisciplinary research on habitat restoration.
2024, research intern, German academic exchange service.
Summer intern funded through the RISE program, working on an independent research project under my supervision.
2017, research award, Lehre@LMU Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
Personal and research grant for undergraduate research project.
About me
I studied biology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich), with a focus in evolution and ecology, achieving a B.Sc. in Biology and a M.Sc. in Ecology, Evolution and Systematics. I started my doctoral studies at the same institute in 2021, working on the palaeontology, evolution and development of Malacostraca with a focus on Meiura. I have so far worked on different extant and fossil predatory representatives of Euarthropoda, including crabs, mantis shrimps, thylacocephalan crustaceans, beetles, and lacewing larvae. I later focused on statistical analyses and geometric morphometrics of the evolution and development of Euarthropoda.
Publications
2025
Peer-reviewed Publication: Gerbe, A., Haug, C., Braig, F., Müller, P., Haug, J. T., Porta, A. O. and Arce, S. I. (2025): Quantitative morphological comparison of rake-legged mites over the last 100 million years and the first fossil larva of Caeculidae. Palaeobio Palaeoenv. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-025-00654-5Peer-reviewed Publication: Haug, C., Braig, F., Linhart, S. J., Briggs, D. E. G., Melzer, R. R., Caballero, A., Fu, Y., Haug, G. T., Hörnig, M. K. and Haug, J. T. (2025): Cretaceous lacewing larvae with binocular vision demonstrate the convergent evolution of sophisticated simple eyes. Insect Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.13509Peer-reviewed Publication: Buchner, L., Linhart, S. J., Braig, F., Haug, G. T., Weiterschan, T., Haug, C. and Haug, J. T. (2025): New data indicate larger decline in morphological diversity in Split-Footed Lacewing larvae than previously estimated. Insects, 16(2): 125.2024
Peer-reviewed Publication: Belojević, J., Mortier, M. S., Oberweiser, M. M., Braig, F., Haug, J. T. and Haug, C. (2024): The history of short-tailed whip scorpions: changes in body size and flagellum shape in Schizomida. Swiss Journal of Palaeontology, 143: 24.Peer-reviewed Publication: Braig, F., Haug, C. and Haug, J. T. (2024): Morphological diversity in true and false crabs reveals the plesiomorphy of the megalopa phase. Scientific reports, 14: 8682.Peer-reviewed Publication: Braig, F., Torres, G., Gimenéz, L. and Haug, J. T. (2024): Outline analysis as a new method for investigating development in fossil crabs. Palaeontologia Electronica, 27(1): a24.2023
Peer-reviewed Publication: Braig, F., Popp, T. (both first authors), Zippel, A., Haug, G. T., Linhart, S., Müller, P., Weiterschan, T., Haug, J. T. and Haug, C. (2023): The Diversity of Larvae with Multi-Toothed Stylets from About 100 Million Years Ago Illuminates the Early Diversification of Antlion-like Lacewings. Diversity, 15(12): 1219.Peer-reviewed Publication: Braig, F., Haug, C. and Haug, J. T. (2023): Diversification events of the shield morphology in shore crabs and their relatives through development and time. Palaeontologia Electronica, 26.3.a54.Peer-reviewed Publication: Haug, J. T., Baranov, V., Braig, F. and Haug, C. (2023): Morpho-ecospaces, or how to measure biodiversity in a different way. Acta Zoologica, 00: 1-18.Peer-reviewed Publication: Haug, C., Braig, F. and Haug, J. T. (2023): Quantitative analysis of lacewing larvae over more than 100 million years reveals a complex pattern of loss of morphological diversity. Scientific Reports, 13: 6127.Peer-reviewed Publication: Braig, F., Haug, C. and Haug, J. T. (2023): Phenotypic variability in the shield morphology of wild- vs. lab-reared eumalacostracan larvae. Nauplius, 31: e2023004.Peer-reviewed Publication: Braig, F., Haug, J. T., Ahyong, S. T., Garassino, A., Schädel, M. and Haug, C. (2023): Another piece in the puzzle of mantis shrimp evolution – fossils from the Early Jurassic Osteno Lagerstätte of Northern Italy. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 22(2): 17-31.2022
Peer-reviewed Publication: Haug, C., Posada Zuluaga, V., Zippel, A., Braig, F., Müller, P., Gröhn, C., Weiterschan, T., Wunderlich, J., Haug, G. T. and Haug, J. T. (2022): The Morphological Diversity of Antlion Larvae and Their Closest Relatives over 100 Million Years. Insects, 13(7): 587.2021
Peer-reviewed Publication: Braig, F., Posada Zuluaga, V., Haug, C. and Haug, J. T. (2021): Diversity of hippoidean crabs - considering ontogeny, quantifiable morphology and phenotypic plasticity. Nauplius, 29: e2021027.2020
Peer-reviewed Publication: Herrera-Flórez, A. F., Braig, F., Haug, C., Neumann, C., Wunderlich, J., Hörnig, M. K. and Haug, J. T. (2020): Identifying the oldest larva of a myrmeleontiformian lacewing – a morphometric approach. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 65: 235–250.Peer-reviewed Publication: Haug, G. T., Haug, C., Pazinato, P. G., Braig, F., Perrichot, V., Gröhn, C., Müller, P. and Haug, J. T. (2020): The decline of silky lacewings and morphological diversity of long-nosed antlion larvae through time. Palaeontologia Electronica, 23(2): a39.2019
Peer-reviewed Publication: Braig, F., Haug, J. T., Schädel, M. and Haug, C. (2019): A new thylacocephalan crustacean from the Upper Jurassic lithographic limestones of southern Germany and the diversity of Thylacocephala. Palaeodiversity, 12: 69–87.2018
Peer-reviewed Publication: Haug, C., Wagner, P., Bjarsch, J., Braig, F. and Haug, J. T. (2018): A new ‘extreme’ type of mantis shrimp larva. Nauplius, 26: e2018019.