Leonila Vázquez García was born on January 17, 1914, in the city of Jiménez in the northern state of Chihuahua, Mexico.

[1] On October 3, 1936, she received a master's degree in biological sciences by completing a thesis entitled, Harmful insects of the 'tepozanes' (Budleia) of Central Mexico.

Within her research, she worked with Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Satumiidae, Sphingidae and Psychidae, among others, contributing to over 50 scientific publications.

[1] In 1952, she began collaborating with the Indigenous Institute (Instituto Indigenista) on a study of the traditional cultivation of the cochineal (Dactylopius coccus Costa) and the aje (Llaveia axin).

[2] In 1958, Vázquez participated in the first UNAM scientific expedition to the Revillagigedo Islands, a volcanic archipelago located in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico.

[1] In 1957, she worked with the Laboratory of Hydrobiology of the Institute of Biology and Parasitology of the Faculty of Medicine at UNAM on a project to eradicate onchocerciasis, or river blindness.

[1] In 1984, she worked with the Institute of Biology and the Secretary of Urban Development and Ecology to create programs for the protection and study of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexiblus L.).

She also received honorary degrees from the Mexican Society of Zoology and the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the University of Veracruz.