Francesca Leasi, U.S. invertebrate zoologist and helminthologist.

• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C., United States of America
• University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States of America

Taxon names authored

(List may be incomplete)

• 5 taxon names authored by Francesca Leasi

Publications

(List may be incomplete)

• Dal Zotto, M., Leasi, F., Todaro, M.A. 2018. A new species of Turbanellidae (Gastrotricha, Macrodasyida) from Jamaica, with a key to species of Paraturbanella. Zookeys 734: 105–119. 734: 105–119. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.734.23023
• Scarpa, F., Cossu, P., Delogu, V., Lai, T., Sanna, D., Leasi, F., Norenburg, J.L., Curini-Galletti, M. 2017. Molecular support for morphology-based family-rank taxa: the contrasting cases of the Meidiamidae and the Otomesostomidae (Platyhelminthes: Proseriata). Zoologica Scripta 46: 753–766. DOI: 10.1111/zsc.12251
• Hochberg, R., Todaro, M.A., Araujo, T.Q., Atherton, S., Balsamo, M., Chang, C.Y., Di Domenico, M., Garraffoni, A.R., Guidi, L., Kånneby, T., Kieneke, A., Kirk, J.J., Leasi, F., Lee, J.M., Nesteruk, T., Dal Zotto, M., Bownes, S.J., Cesaroni, L., Kim I.-H., Münter, L., Perissinotto, R. 2017. A Tribute to William Hummon – Gastrotrich Biologist Extraordinaire. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 130: 113–119. DOI: 10.2988/17-00017
• Leasi, F., Andrade S., Norenburg, J.L. 2016. At least some meiofaunal species are not everywhere. Indication of geographic, ecological and geological barriers affecting the dispersion of species of Ototyphlonemertes (Nemertea, Hoplonemertea). Molecular Ecology 25: 1381–1397. DOI: 10.1111/mec.13568
• Leasi, F., Gaynus, C., Mahardini, A., Moore, N.T., Norenburg, J.L., Barber, H.P. 2016. Spatial and ecological distribution of neglected microinvertebrate communities across endangered ecosystems: Meiofauna in Bali (Indonesia). Marine Ecology 37: 970–987. DOI: 10.1111/maec.12305
• Todaro, M.A., Dal Zotto, M., Leasi, F. 2015. An integrated morphological and molecular approach to the description and systematisation of a novel genus and species of Macrodasyida (Gastrotricha). PLoS ONE 10: e0130278. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130278
• Leasi, F., Norenburg, J.L. 2014. The necessity of DNA taxonomy to reveal cryptic diversity and spatial distribution of meiofauna, with a focus on Nemertea. PLoS ONE 9(8): e104385. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104385
• Todaro, M.A., Leasi, F., Hochberg, R. 2014. A new species, genus and family of marine Gastrotricha from Jamaica, with a phylogenetic analysis of Macrodasyida based on the 18S rDNA gene. Systematics and Biodiversity 12: 473–488. DOI: 10.1080/14772000.2014.942718
• Leasi, F., Tang, C.Q., De Smet, W.H., Fontaneto, D. 2013. Cryptic diversity with wide salinity tolerance in the putative euryhaline Testudinella clypeata (Rotifera, Monogononta). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 168: 17–28. DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12020
• Neves, R.C., Bailly, X., Leasi, F., Reichert, H., Sørensen, M.V., Kristensen, R.M. 2013. A complete three-dimensional reconstruction of the myoanatomy of Loricifera: comparative morphology of an adult and a Higgins larva stage. Frontiers in Zoology 10: 19. DOI: 10.1186/1742-9994-10-19
• Todaro, M.A., Leasi, F. 2013. A new eye-bearing Macrodasys (Gastrotricha: Macrodasyida) from Jamaica. Meiofauna Marina 20: 33–38.
• Curini-Galletti, M., Artois, T., Delogu, V., De Smet, W.H., Fontaneto, D., Jondelius, U., Leasi, F., Martínez, A., Meyer-Wachsmuth, I., Nilsson, K.S., Tongiorgi, P., Worsaae, K., Todaro, M.A. 2012. Patterns of diversity in soft-bodied meiofauna: dispersal ability and body size matter. PLoS ONE 7: e33801. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0033801
• Fontaneto, D., Tang, C.Q., Obertegger, U., Leasi, F., Barraclough, T.G. 2012. Different diversification rates between sexual and asexual organisms. Evolutionary Biology 39: 262–270. DOI: 10.1007/s11692-012-9161-z
• Leasi, F., Neves, R.C., Worsaae, K., Sørensen, M.V. 2012. Musculature of Seison nebaliae Grube, 1861 and Paraseison annulatus (Claus, 1876) revealed with CLSM - a comparative study of the gnathiferan key taxon Seisonacea (Rotifera). Zoomorphology 131: 185–195. DOI: 10.1007/s00435-012-0155-2
• Leasi, F., Rouse, G.W., Sørensen, M.V. 2012. A new species of Paraseison (Rotifera: Seisonacea) from the coast of California, USA. Journal of the Marine Biological Association, U.K. 92: 959–965. DOI: 10.1017/S0025315411000129
• Marotta, R., Uggetti, A., Ricci, C., Leasi, F., Melone, G. 2012. Surviving starvation: changes accompanying starvation tolerance in a bdelloid rotifer. Journal of Morphology 273: 1–7. DOI: 10.1002/jmor.11000
• Tang, C.Q., Leasi, F., Obertegger, U., Kieneke, A., Barraclough, T.G., Fontaneto, D. 2012. The widely used small subunit 18S rDNA molecule greatly underestimates true diversity in biodiversity surveys of the meiofauna. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109: 16208–16212. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1209160109
• Boschetti, C., Leasi, F., Ricci, C. 2011. Developmental stage in diapausing eggs of monogonont rotifers. Hydrobiologia 662: 149–155. DOI: 10.1007/s10750-010-0490-6
• Leasi, F., Ricci, C. 2011. The role of Serotonin in the life cycle of bdelloids. Hydrobiologia 662: 141–147. DOI: 10.1007/s10750-010-0489-z
• Leasi, F., Fontaneto, D., Melone, G. 2010. Phylogenetic constraints in the muscular system of rotifer males. Investigation on the musculature of males versus females of Brachionus manjavacas and Epiphanes senta (Rotifera, Monogononta). Journal of Zoology 282: 109–119. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2010.00721.x
• Leasi, F., Ricci, C. 2010. Musculature of two bdelloid rotifers, Macrotrachela quadricornifera and Adineta ricciae: organisation and locomotion in a functional and evolutionary perspective. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 48: 33–39. DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0469.2009.00538.x
• Leasi, F., Todaro, M.A. 2010. The gastrotrich community of a north Adriatic Sea site, with a redescription of Musellifer profundus (Chaetonotida, Muselliferidae). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the U.K. 90: 645–653. DOI: 10.1017/S0025315409991068
• Marotta, R., Leasi, F., Uggetti, A., Ricci, C., Melone, G. 2010. Dry and survive: morphological changes during anhydrobiosis in a bdelloid rotifer. Journal of Structural Biology 171: 11–17. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2010.04.003
• Leasi, F., Pennati, R., Ricci, C. 2009. First description of the serotonergic nervous system in a bdelloid rotifer: Macrotrachela quadricornifera Milne, 1886 (Philodinidae). Zoologischer Anzeiger 248: 47–55. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcz.2008.10.002
• Leasi, F., Todaro, M.A. 2009. Meiofaunal cryptic species revealed by confocal microscopy: the case of Xenotrichula intermedia (Gastrotricha). Marine Biology 156: 1335–1346. DOI: 10.1007/s00227-009-1175-4
• Leasi, F., Todaro, M.A. 2008. The muscular system of Musellifer delamarei (Renaud-Mornant, 1968) and other chaetonotidans with implication for the phylogeny and systematization of the Paucitubulatina (Gastrotricha). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 94: 379–398. DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2008.00974.x
• Leasi, F., Rothe, B.H., Schmidt-Rhaesa, A., Todaro, M.A. 2006. The musculature of three species of gastrotrichs surveyed with Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM). Acta Zoologica 87: 171–180. DOI: 10.1111/j.1463-6395.2006.00230.x
• Leasi, F., Virno-Lamberti, C., Todaro, M.A. 2006. First record of Musellifer profundus (Gastrotricha) in the Italian seas. Biologia Marina Mediterranea 13: 190–191.
• Todaro, M.A., Guidi, L., Leasi, F., Tongiorgi, P. 2006. Morphology of Xenodasys (Gastrotricha): the first species from Mediterranean Sea and the establishment of Chordodasiopsis gen. nov. and Xenodasyidae fam. nov. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the U.K. 86: 1005–1015. DOI: 10.1017/S0025315406013981
• Todaro, M.A., Leasi, F. 2006. Further data on the Italian marine gastrotrich fauna. Biologia Marina Mediterranea 13: 1116–1120.
• Todaro, M.A., Leasi, F., Bizzarri, N., Tongiorgi, P. 2006. Meiofauna densities and gastrotrich community composition in a Mediterranean sea cave. Marine Biology 149: 1079–1091. DOI: 10.1007/s00227-006-0299-z
• Baraldi, E., Virno-Lamberti, C., Pellegrini, D., Leasi, F., Todaro, M.A. 2003. Biomonitoring of a dumping area: the meiobenthic community. Biologia Marina Mediterranea 10: 640–643.