Xavier Bellés (Barcelona, 1952) received his PhD in Biology from the University of Barcelona. Until 2022 he was a Research Professor at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-Pompeu Fabra University), of which he was founder (2008) and first director (2008-2017). At present he holds the position of CSIC Honorary Professor. Entomologist and evolutionary biologist, he has specialized in the study of insect metamorphosis, from the point of view of natural history, developmental regulation and evolution. He has supervised 21 doctoral theses and published 11 books and more than 380 research articles. In addition, he has made contributions to the study of biodiversity (including the description of 32 genera and 89 new species of insects), to the history of science and to the study of the medieval Bestiary. He is member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona), the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC), and the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences in Madrid. He is also Honorary member of the Spanish Society of Evolutionary Biology. He has been awarded the Maurice Pic Prize from the Société Entomologique de France, the Scientific Literature Prize from the Catalan Foundation for Research, and the Bronze Prism Prize from the Casa de las Ciencias (A Coruña). In 2018, the Catalan government awarded him the Narcís Monturiol Medal for scientific and technological merit.
Belles, X., Santos, C.G. 2014. The MEKRE93 (Methoprene tolerant-Krüppel homolog 1-E93) pathway in the regulation of insect metamorphosis, and the homology of the pupal stage. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 52: 60-68. 10.1016/j.ibmb.2014.06.009
Lozano J, Montañez R, Belles X. 2015. MiR-2 family regulates insect metamorphosis by controlling the juvenile hormone signaling pathway. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U S A 112: 3740-3745. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1418522112
Belles X. 2019. The innovation of the final moult and the origin of insect metamorphosis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London, B Biological Sciences 374(1783): 20180415. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0415
Belles, X. 2020. Insect metamorphosis. From natural history to regulation of development and evolution. London: Academic Press. 289 pages. doi.org/10.1016/C2016-0-04530-8
Fernandez-Nicolas, A., Macha, G., Ventos-Alfonso, A., Pagone, V., Minemura, T., Ohde, T., Daimon, T., Ylla, G., Belles, X. 2023. Reduction of embryonic E93 expression as a hypothetical driver of the evolution of insect metamorphosis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 120, e2216640120. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2216640120