I specialize in malacology, with a particular focus on the diversity, systematics, and evolutionary relationships of marine heterobranchs. My research follows an integrative taxonomic approach, combining anatomical data obtained through scanning electron microscopy with molecular analyses to investigate species diversity and reconstruct phylogenies.

Norsk symposium i biosystematikk 2024

The University of Bergen – in the form of the Department of Natural History and the Department of Life Sciences – had a strong presence at the first Norwegian symposium in biosystematics, Oslo, 29-30 October 2024.

https://evertebrat.w.uib.no/2024/11/06/norsk-symposium-i-biosystematikk-2024/

Bharate, Monisha; Turani, Martina; Uribe, Juan E. et al. (2025). On the Relationships and Origin of the Worldwide Haminoea sensu lato Marine Molluscs (Gastropoda, Cephalaspidea) and the Importance of In-Depth Taxon Sampling. Zoologica Scripta.

Malaquias, Manuel António E.; Turani, Martina; Lopes, Evandro; Cervera Currado, Juan Lucas. (2025). The Heterobranchia gastropods from the Cabo Verde Islands (NE Atlantic): A hot-spot of endemism. Regional Studies in Marine Science 86, 104193.

Turani, Martina; Carmona, Leila; Barry, Peter J.; Close, Hayden L.; Bullimore, Ross; Cervera Currado, Juan Lucas. (2024). First occurrence of the genus Pleurobranchaea Leue, 1813 (Pleurobranchida, Nudipleura, Heterobranchia) in British waters, with the description of a new species. Zoosystematics and Evolution 100(1), 49-59.

Turani, Martina; Valdés, Ángel; Malaquias, Manuel António E. (2023). Molecular phylogeny of the marine snail genus Haminoea (Gastropoda, Cephalaspidea): A framework to study marine diversity and speciation. Zoologica Scripta 53(1), 52-77.

Petrosino, Gerardo; Tancioni, Lorenzo; Turani, Martina; Rakaj, Arnold; Ciuffardi, Luca; Rossi, Anna Rita. (2022). Phylogeography of Sarmarutilus rubilio (Cypriniformes: Leuciscidae): Complex Genetic Structure, Clues to a New Cryptic Species and Further Insights into Roaches Phylogeny. Genes 13(6), 1071.

PhD Project - Understanding diversity patterns, speciation, and biogeography of shallow-water marine organisms in the Atlantic realm

The PhD project aims to obtain new knowledge about distribution patterns, historical changes, and response of Atlantic faunas to climate change and sea level fluctuations. It is the first attempt to  shed light on the processes responsible for the diversification of a soft-bottom shallow-water complete radiation of gastropod molluscs (Haminoea snails) in the Atlantic Ocean. A multidisciplinary approach is used using original morphological and anatomical data, micro-CT scan  data, phylogenetic inference based on mitogenomes, and fossil data, will be combined with biogeographic, oceanographic, and historical climatic data, and used as a proxy to answer questions  about the diversity, distribution, and relationships of species, and the time, mode, and geography of  speciation of Haminoea snails, and evaluate the impact of geotectonics and climate change on the diversification and current biogeography of the genus.