Alexander V. Gromov
Junior Research Scientist, Laboratory of Entomology, Institute of Zoology, Almaty, Kazakhstan
(AMNH Collections Study Grant, 2007; NSF-BS&I Solifugae Grant, 2007–)
|
Alexander Gromov, a research scientist at the
Laboratory of Entomology, Institute of Zoology,
Kazakhstan, earned an M.Sc. in Biology from the
Kazakh State University in 1994 and has been
studying for a Ph.D. in Entomology at the Institute
of Zoology since 1995. His research focuses on the
arachnid order Solifugae worldwide. Since 1993, he
published 11 papers dedicated to the taxonomy and
zoogeography of solifuges, travelled to and studied
the solifuge collections of 6 major European and
Russian museums, and examined solifuge materials
loaned from 23 other American, European and Asian
museum collections. He accumulated a large
collection of solifuges, including 116 species and
about 2000 specimens, obtained through fieldwork
and exchanges with foreign colleagues, and
personally collected solifuges in several countries
in the Palaearctic region, including Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the
United Arab Emirates. Since 2007, he has been
supported as a trainee on the NSF-funded BS&I
Solifugae grant (http://www.solpugid.com). He
visited the AMNH Arachnid and Myriapod Collections
for 7 weeks (25 September–14 November) in
2007, supported by an AMNH Collections Study Grant
and by the NSF-BS&I Solifugae Grant, to sort
and identify AMNH solpugid holdings and work with
co-PI Prendini prioritizing samples for DNA
sequencing as part of the objectives of the
BS&I grant.
|
Warren E. Savary
Field Associate, Department of Entomology,
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, U.S.A.
(NSF-REVSYS Vaejovidae Grant, 2004–; NSF-BS&I Solifugae Grant, 2007–)
|
Warren Savary, a compliance officer at the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration and Field Associate of
the California Academy of Sciences, earned an A.A.
in Biology at the College of San Mateo in 1972, a
B.A. in Ecology and Systematic Biology at San
Francisco State University in 1974, and an M.A. in
Ecology and Systematic Biology at the same
institution in 1990. His research interests include
the systematics and phylogeny of the arachnid
orders Solifugae and Scorpiones, and the
biogeography of western North America. Since 2004,
he served as research collaborator and webmaster
for the NSF-funded REVSYS Vaejovidae
grant and, since 2007, as research collaborator
and webmaster for the BS&I Solifugae
grant. He has visited the AMNH Arachnid and
Myriapod Collections on several occasions to sort
and identify solifuges and vaejovid scorpions and
to attend grant-related meetings. During his most
recent visit (13–19 October, 2007), Savary
worked with co-PI Prendini and visiting scientist,
Alexander V. Gromov, prioritizing samples for
sequencing as part of the objectives of the
BS&I Solifugae grant.
|
|
Martín J. Ramírez, PhD
Investigador Adjunto, CONICET -
Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Buenos Aires, Argentina
(2004–2007)
|
Martín Ramírez received his Ph.D., on the
systematics and phylogenetics of anyphaenid spiders
from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He
spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the
AMNH, between 2000 and 2001, funded by a Fessenden
Research Fellowship and a fellowship from CONICET,
working on the morphology and phylogenetics of
dionychan spiders. He is currently a Senior
Collaborator in the National Science
Foundation-funded AToL: Phylogeny of Spiders
project, coordinating the morphological atlas, the
images database, and collecting morphological data
on several spider families. He is also a
participant in the Goblin Spider Planetary
Biodiversity Inventory, lead by Norman Platnick,
and also funded by NSF. During past years, Ramírez
visited the AMNH on several occasions, in
connection with the AToL Spider Phylogeny project,
and processed spider tissues collected by Prendini
and collaborators in the Middle East and West
Africa.
|
W. David Sissom, Ph.D
Professor of Biology, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas
(NSF-REVSYS Vaejovidae Grant: 2005–2007)
|
Dr W. David Sissom is a Professor of Biology at
West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas, where
he is primarily engaged in teaching general
biology, zoology, entomology, parasitology, medical
entomology, arachnology, and systematics. After
receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Zoology
from Texas Tech University, David entered graduate
school and completed his Master’s degree at
Texas Tech University, Lubbock (1980) and his Ph.D.
at Vanderbilt University (1985). Prior to his
current position, he held academic posts at Texas
Tech University (1985, 1986) and Elon Collage,
North Carolina (1986–1992). Sissom has
authored 66 research publications, focusing mainly
on the arachnid order Scorpiones, but has
occasionally published on spiders, harvestmen,
amblypygids, schizomids, and palpigrades. He has
specialized on the North American scorpion fauna,
particularly the family Vaejovidae. He authored or
coauthored several chapters in the Biology of
Scorpions (1990) by G. A. Polis (Ed.), and was a
coauthor on the Catalog of the Scorpions of the
World 1758–1997 (2000). He is currently
involved as co-Principal Investigator on the
NSF-REVSYS Vaejovidae grant with Lorenzo Prendini,
Oscar Francke, Warren Savary, and Edmundo González
Santillán.
|
|
James C. Cokendolpher
Research Associate & Interim Collections Manager of Invertebrate Collection,
Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock
(2006)
|
James Cokendolpher received his M.S. from
Midwestern State University, Texas, in 1978. His
thesis was on the crab-spiders of north-central
Texas. Since then he has studied most groups of
modern arachnids (except palpigrades, solpugids,
and Uropygi), some fossil Opiliones and Acari, and
a few groups of insects and other animals and
plants; resulting in over 125 scientific, reviewed
publications. He visited the AMNH Southwestern
Research Station several times in the 1970's and
1980's and borrowed and donated many specimens
from/to the AMNH for taxonomic studies. In the Fall
2005, James went on the AMNH expedition to
recollect the elusive new species of ammoxenid
spider from the desert of the southwestern border
of Texas. It was not until 2006 that James visited
the AMNH (rather like going to the Mecca for
arachnology!). This trip was primarily intended to
work with the AMNH collections and Dr. Pierre
Paquin and Nadine Dupérré (from Québec) on a group
of troglobitic dictynid spiders. During this trip
the lesser arachnid collections were also briefly
examined to assess the holdings and locate material
of immediate interest for revisionary work on
Opiliones from various localities around the globe
and North American nesticid spiders and
pseudoscorpions. The survey of the Opiliones
collection revealed it needs attention and James
plans to return to organize this collection and
identify all at least to family level.
|
Pierre Paquin and Nadine Dupérré
(2006)
|
Nadine Dupérré completed a B.Sc at Université de
Montréal in 1998. Mainly interested in Linyphiidae
taxonomy and systematics, Nadine is also an
accomplished scientific illustrator. You can see
her work in the Spiders of Québec and more
recently in the Spiders of North America.
Pierre Paquin completed an M.Sc. on the effect of
disturbances on soil fauna, a Ph.D in community
ecology on the relationship of age of forest and
community structure of beetles and spiders at
Université de Montréal. Post-doctoral studies were
carried out in San Diego and Portland on molecular
systematics and biogeography of eyeless spiders of
the genus Cicurina. Research interests
involve cave spiders (mainly in North America)
assessed with both morphology and molecules.
Taxonomic group of interest includes Linyphidae
(Oaphantes, Oreonetides, Phanetta, Agyneta),
Dictynidae (Cicurina) and Leptonetidae. The
visit at the AMNH allowed Pierre to study and
redescribe the numerous types of eyeless
Cicurina, and gather data on several other
unknown cave spiders scattered in several families.
Pierre and Nadine crossed North America a dozen
times (in their famous car) to collect cave and
surface species good for both DNA and morphology.
They also visited and worked in several other
museums (CAS in San Francisco, MCZ in Cambridge,
and CNC Ottawa) and built over the years an
important collection of specimens preserved for DNA
analysis. Pierre and Nadine hope to return to the
AMNH to complete the Cicurina revision and
other revisions on Linyphiidae.
|
|
Oscar Francke, Ph.D.
Curator, National Arachnid Collection, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico City
NSF-REVSYS Vaejovidae Grant: 2005, 2006)
|
Dr. Oscar Francke was born in Mexico City, where he
received his primary education; he received his
secondary education in Lima, Peru; and earned a
B.S. degree in Entomology in 1970, and a Ph.D.
degree in Zoology in 1976, both from Arizona State
University. Oscar spent four weeks at the AMNH in
the summer of 1976, curating the scorpion
collection. He served as Assistant and then
Associate Professor at Texas Tech University from
1976 to 1986. In 1986, he returned to Mexico, left
the academic world, and donated a substantial
collection of scorpions to the AMNH. He worked in
private industry for 12 years and was in
semi-retirement in 2000 when several Mexican
students expressed interest in scorpions. He became
involved in their thesis projects and re-entered
the academic world at UNAM, where he currently
directs the arachnological research of four
Master’s students. His primary research
interests are scorpion systematics and biology
(life histories, reproductive behavior), although
for several years he worked with fire ants
(Solenopsis) in Texas. He has publsihed over
60 papers on scorpions and almost 20 on ants. In
2003, he was invited by Dr. Prendini to collaborate
on the REVSYS Vaejovidae project
(www.vaejovidae.com) and has participated in
several field trips with co-PIs by Prendini and Dr.
W. David Sissom and their students, as well as
visited the AMNH on three separate occasions in
2005 and 2006. Oscar is currently involved in a
variety of projects, including a grant to produce
distribution maps for the scorpions of medical
importance (Centruroides) in Mexico, and the
distribution of scorpion stings (morbidity and
mortality) by state and municipality. In 2006, over
280,000 people, mostly children under 4 years old,
required medical treatment for scorpion
envenomation in Mexico; 41 people died as a
consequence.
|
Peter Weygoldt, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Albert-Ludwigs University, Freiburg
(2005)
|
Peter Weygoldt studied zoology at the Universities
in Kiel and Freiburg, Germany. In 1958 he graduated
at Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, with a PhD
on the embryology of crustaceans and then continued
these studies for two years in a post-doctoral
position. In 1960, he joined the Free University of
Berlin as Assistant Professor and started to study
the embryology and reproductive behavior of
pseudoscorpions, receiving his Venia Legendi for
this work. From 1965, he spent two years as
Research Associate and Visiting Professor in the
Duke Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina,
and the Friday Harbor Laboratories, University of
Washington, studying crustacean embryology. During
a short visit to the Florida Keys he found his
first whip spider (Amblypygi), and the study of
these arachnids became his main interest from then
on. Since 1967, Peter served as Professor at
Albert-Ludwigs University, Freiburg. There he
continued to study embryology, and later
reproductive biology and the systematics of
Amblypygi. During several travels to Brazil and
other Neotropical countries he became fascinated by
Neotropical frogs and, for about 20 years, studied
their reproductive biology. Since 1995, Peter
retired but continues his studies on the Amblypygi.
He has published over 130 papers, two books (on the
biology of pseudoscorpions and whip spiders) and
several contributions to text-books and compendia
(e.g. Traité de Zoologie, Lexikon der Biologie). He
and his wife, Sylvia, visited the AMNH in the Fall,
2005, to examine the amblypygid holdings in the
collections.
|
|
Mark Harvey, Ph.D.
Senior Curator, Western Australian Museum, Perth
(2006)
|
Mark Harvey, one of Australia’s leading
arachnologists, has a broad research focus and has
delved into many different arachnid orders
including pseudoscorpions, schizomids, spiders and
scorpions. He is also an inveterate cataloguer and
has produced two catalogues, the first on
pseudoscorpions (1991) and the second on the
smaller arachnid orders (2003). Other published
volumes include Worms to Wasps: an Illustrated
Guide to Australia's Terrestrial Invertebrates
(co-authored with A.L. Yen), and the CD-ROM
Spiders of Australia: interactive identification
to subfamily (co-authored with Robert Raven and
Barbara Baehr). He originally studied Zoology at
Monash University (Melbourne) and graduated in 1983
with a Ph.D. on pseudoscorpions. After two
post-doctoral positions in Canberra and Melbourne,
he transferred to the Western Australian Museum in
1989 where he is now Senior Curator. Mark has
published over 130 research papers and runs an
active laboratory with post-docs, students and
technicians. During his visit to the AMNH in
October 2006, Mark studied the AMNH pseudoscorpion
collection and identified some of the unidentified
slide material. Mark enjoys foraging in the bush
searching for creepy-crawlies, especially with his
wife and two daughters, and playing basketball on
Wednesday evenings.
|
O. Erik Tetlie, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate, Yale University
(2006)
|
Erik Tetlie received his M.S. equivalent from the
University of Oslo, Norway, in 2000, for a study on
Norwegian eurypterids (sea scorpions). He later
received his Ph.D. at the University of Bristol,
UK, for a thesis entitled “Eurypterid
phylogeny with remarks on the origin of
arachnids”. He is currently working on the
most comprehensive collection of fossil fauna ever
assembled from the eurypterid beds of eastern North
America. These include some of the oldest known
fossil scorpions, which brought him into contact
with Lorenzo Prendini. Tetlie is also very
interested in chelicerate phylogeny, especially the
respective positions of Eurypterida and Scorpiones,
and the original habitat (terrestrial or marginal
marine) of the earliest scorpions. While at the
AMNH in May 2006, some problematic fossils from the
eurypterid beds were tentatively identified as
centipedes by Randy Mercurio. These and the
scorpions might suggest the presence of a
well-functioning terrestrial habitat in the Upper
Silurian.
|
|
Sergei I. Golovatch, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist, Institute for Problems of Ecology and Evolution
Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
(2002, 2006)
 |
Sergei Golovatch, a myriapodologist at the Russian
Academy of Sciences, Moscow, has visited the AMNH
Division of Invertebrate Zoology on several
occasions to study the millipede (diplopod)
collection, most recently for a week in January
2006. During his latest visit, Golovatch worked
with Randy Mercurio, examining identified and
unidentified bulk collections of Diplopoda to sort
out certain subgroups for a few possible future
research projects. However, further sorting-out
efforts are still highly topical, because the AMNH
holdings are extremely abundant, diverse and
interesting on a global scale. Golovatch plans to
return again to continue his work.
|
Rowland Shelley, Ph.D.
Curator of Terrestrial Invertebrates, North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh
(2002, 2005, 2007)
|
Rowland Shelley, a myriapodologist at the North
Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, has
visited the AMNH Division of Invertebrate Zoology,
and formerly the Department of Entomology, more
than 6 times over the past 30 years. He has also
visited the AMNH Southwest Research Station in
Portal, Arizona. Shelley’s research focuses
on the North American millipede (Diplopoda) fauna
and the chilopod order Scolopendromorpha, and the
AMNH collection of these arthropods is among the 9
largest on the continent. To date, Shelley has
reported AMNH specimens in 52 publications, most of
which lay the basic taxonomic foundation for higher
level studies on these taxa. Dr. Shelley's most
recent visit, during September 2005, resulted in
the unexpected discovery of a new Mexican
scolopendromorph species, genus, and subfamily
among unsorted milliped samples, and a
collaborative publication with Randy Mercurio.
Further collaboration with Mercurio is underway.
|
|
Paula Cushing, Ph.D.
Curator of Invertebrate Zoology, Denver Museum of Nature and Science
(Collections Study Grant, 2005)
|
Paula Cushing, an arachnologist at the Denver
Museum of Nature and Science, visited the Division
of Invertebrate Zoology, AMNH, for a month from
January–February 2005, supported by a
Collections Study Grant. Cushing examined the
solifuge holdings in the collection to determine
morphological characters that may be useful for
higher-level phylogenetic reconstruction and
sequenced DNA from the solifuge tissue samples
acquired by Lorenzo Prendini during recent
fieldwork in southern Africa, South America and
central Asia. These data form the foundations of
collaborative research on solifuges to be conducted
in the future.
|