I was born and raised in the northeast of Brazil, a place with beautiful beaches. I have a bachelor's degree in Ecology, a master's degree and a PhD in Systematics and Evolution from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.  I'm a scientist working on the ecology, taxonomy, and diversity of crustaceans, currently peracarids.

Bergmann and Rensch's rules explain patterns of size and sexual dimorphism in endothermic animals, but their application to ectothermic animals that depend on obligatory shelters is still uncertain. Thus, this study evaluated the application of Bergmann and Rensch's macroecological and evolutionary rules in hermit crab Clibanarius antillensis for investigating evolutionary patterns of body shape in the face of clinal variations. We analyzed 413 individuals collected from seven populations along the South American coast between 2011 and 2019. Landmark-based morphometric geometric analyses of two body structures were used: cephalothoracic shield and uropod exopodite. Centroid size (size), shape, and form (size + shape) components were obtained. In addition, type II regression was used to investigate the influence of latitude on sexual dimorphism in size, shape, and form. The results suggest that Bergmann's rule itself does not apply to this species, however, its interaction with the inverse pattern of Rensch’s rule was observed with increasing latitude. The results suggests that the shape and form of the cephalothoracic shield in females may be responsive to environmental variation than in males. This may be due to selective pressures related to reproduction such as gametogenesis, the production of larger and fewer eggs, which favors the offspring survival.