Her first taxonomic publication, in which new species from the genus Pteraster were described, was published in 1935. In 1941 she described two new species from the genus Luidia. Between 1937 and 1980, Bernasconi revised the taxonomy of a number of families: Pterasteridae, Luidiidae, Odontasteridae, Gonisasteridae, Ganeriidae, Asterinidae and Echinasteridae.