The Laboratory of Evolutionary and Systematic Zoology (ESZ_Lab) embodies one of the oldest research lines in the Department of Life Sciences of the University of Siena, stemming from studies carried out in the ‘90s on insect taxonomy and agricultural applied entomology. ESZ_Lab boasts twenty years of experience in the study of the evolution of arthropods' mitochondrial DNA and has been recently granted with an EU research funding to study the genomics and gene expression profiles of the invasive pest insect Popillia japonica.

ESZ_Lab endeavors to understand and disseminate the most challenging new scientific discovers on invertebrate evolution and other related topics, and  is at the forefront of the application of molecular markers to address biological problems (invasions, phylogeography, colonization, ecological genetics, phylogenetics). In the last two decades, the laboratory studied the evolution of different taxa, from virus to mammals, with a marked centrality on hexapods (springtails, fruitflies, coleoptera, protura and leafminers). These studies covered a wide range of timespan (centuries to millions of years) and of biological systems, including those dedicated to edible and polystyrene-degrading insects and gut-microbiomes.