Humberto Yoji Yamaguti
PhD Student, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
(2009)
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Humberto Yoji Yamaguti studied Biology at the
Instituto de Biociências of Univesidade de São
Paulo, SP, Brazil, working on the taxonomic review
of the scorpion genus Thestylus
(Bothriuridae) and its ecology. From 2004 to 2006,
he made his Masters in Zoology at the Universidade
de São Paulo, comprising the taxonomic review and
morphological phylogenetic analysis of the
harvestman subfamily Bourguyiinae (Gonyleptidae),
with a new proposal for the Brazilian Atlantic
Forest biogeography. In 2007 he starts his Ph.D. at
the Universidade de São Paulo on the molecular and
morphological phylogenetic analysis of the scorpion
genus Rhopalurus (Buthidae). In 2009 he
visited the AMNH for five months to extract,
amplify and sequence DNA from Rhopalurus
samples and to proceed with the phylogenetic
analysis.
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Jesus Alfonso Ballesteros Chavez
M.S. student, Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico City
(Collections Study Grant, 2008)
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Jesus Ballesteros was an M.S. student at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico when he
visited the AMNH Division of Invertebrate Zoology,
partly supported by a Collections Study Grant, in
the summer of 2008. He is interested in the
systematics and phylogeny of arachnids,
particularly the poorly studied orders Amblypygi
and Solifugae (whip-spiders and sun-spiders,
respectively). His M.S. research project aims to
reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of the
species belonging to the Neotropical whip spider
genus Paraphrynus (Amblypygi) and its relationship
with the rest of the genera of Phrynidae, based on
evidence from external morphology. His visit to the
AMNH provided access to the extensive holdings of
Neotropical phrynids in the collection.
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Fabio Akashi Hernandes
UNESP - São Paulo State University, Brazil
(2008)
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Fabio Akashi Hernandes studied Biology in São Paulo
State University and did his Masters on ecology of
rubber tree mites (Acari). He is currently studying
for his Doctoral degree on taxonomy and phylogeny
of the genus Aponychus and related genera
(Acari, Tetranychidae). His main interests are in
the taxonomy of plant mites (Bdellidae,
Tetranychidae, Raphignathoidea) and feather mites
(Astigmata). In 2008, he visited the AMNH to study
mite types from several groups housed at the
museum.
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Carsten Kamenz
Ph.D. Student, Humboldt University, Berlin
(Annette Kade Fellowship, 2005, 2008)
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Carsten Kamenz studied Biology in Leipzig and
Berlin (Germany). His Diploma-thesis (comparable to
a Masters degree) at the Humboldt-University,
Berlin, began comparisons of the book lungs
(respiratory organs) of Arachnida by histology and
electron-microscopy. In 2004, Kamenz continued
these investigations within his Ph.D. study. His
research interests focus on comparative morphology,
development and evolutionary transformations of
aquatic-origin, land-adapted organs in Arthropoda
(and particularly Chelicerata) from a phylogenetic
perspective. Kamenz was awarded an Annette Kade
Fellowship to visit the AMNH for three months
(November 2005–January 2006) to develop his
research on the phylogenetic significance of book
lung microstructure in scorpion higher phylogeny by
surveying a broad spectrum of recent scorpion
genera, supervised by Lorenzo Prendini. He returned
for two months (March–May, 2008) to study the
ultrastructure of scorpion pectines in the
Microscopy and Imaging Facility, supported by funds
from Germany.
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Andrés Ojanguren-Affilastro
Ph.D. Student, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Buenos Aires, Argentina
(AMNH Collections Study Grant, 2005, 2007)
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Andres Ojanguren studied Biology at the Universidad
de Buenos Aires (Argentina) and began working on
scorpion systematics, particularly in the family
Bothriuridae, in 2000. In 2003, he started a Ph.D.
at the Museo de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino
Rivadavia (Buenos Aires), supported by a CONICET
grant. The subject of his Ph.D. research is a
revision of the diverse South American bothriurid
genus Brachistosternus using morphology, DNA
and cytogenetic data. Ojanguren-Affilastro has
conducted several collecting trips in South
America, especially to the central Andes, the
Chaco, the Chilean Atacama, and northern Patagonia.
A Collections Study Grant made it possible for him
to visit the AMNH for 6 weeks in
October–November 2005, to extract, amplify
and sequence DNA from bothriurid samples at the
AMNH, supervised by Lorenzo Prendini and AMNH
Postdoctoral Fellow Camilo Mattoni. He returned for
6 weeks (October–November, 2007) again
supported by a Collections Study Grant, to continue
his work with Prendini on bothriurid systematics.
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Samuel Mwangi
Student, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi
(Theodore Roosevelt Fellowship and Richard Lounsbery Foundation, 2005)
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Samuel Mwangi, a student affiliated to the National
Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, has a keen interest in
biodiversity conservation in general, and East
African scorpions in particular. He visited the
American Museum of Natural History for eight weeks
during August–October 2005, supported by a
Theodore Roosevelt Fellowship and augmented by
funds from a grant from the Richard Lounsbery
Foundation to Lorenzo Prendini, where he underwent
a molecular systematics training program in the
Molecular Systematics Laboratory, supervised by
Prendini and AMNH Postdoctoral Fellow, Erich
Volschenk. Mwangi learned laboratory techniques of
DNA isolation, amplification and sequencing, as
well as methods for sorting, packing and labeling
morphological specimens. Upon returning to Kenya,
he applied these techniques in the identification
and delimitation of East African scorpions.
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Valerio Vignoli, Ph.D.
University of Siena, Italy
(Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grant, 2004, 2006)
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Valerio Vignoli completed a B.Sc. at the University
of Siena in 2002 and a Ph.D. on the taxonomy,
ecology and biogeography of Euscorpius at
the same institution in 2006. His first cooperation
with the AMNH, assisted by Lorenzo Prendini, was
during the summer 2004 when he travelled to Morocco
to collect endemic scorpions. He subsequently
visited the AMNH for 3 months during November
2004–January 2005, partially supported by a
Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grant, to revise the
endemic North American scorpion family
Superstitioniidae, under the Prendini’s
supervision. This was followed by trips to Benin,
Senegal and Guinea-Bissau (the last two with AMNH
volunteer, Jeremy Huff). Vignoli returned to the
AMNH on a Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grant in
2006. His research interests include systematics of
Palaearctic buthid scorpions and marine
invertebrates, especially Brachyura and
Pycnogonida. He has travelled extensively in desert
environments in the Middle East, western Asia and
northern Africa.
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Christian Wirkner, Ph.D.
Research Assistant, Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany
(Annette Kade Fellowship, 2004)
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Christian Wirkner studied Biology and Zoology in
Erlangen (Germany) and Vienna (Austria). His
Master’s thesis assessed the comparative
morphology of the circulatory system in Chilopoda,
while his Ph.D., conducted at the Humboldt
University, Berlin, compared the morphology of the
circulatory system in peracarid Malacostraca
(Crustacea). Wirkner’s main research
interests are the comparative morphology of
arthropods from phylogenetic and evolutionary
perspectives and, more specifically, organ
evolution and transformation. His search for
arthropods to compare has taken him to Australia,
Bermuda, Borneo, Italy, Norway, Romania, and South
Africa. An Annette Kade Fellowship made it possible
for him to visit the AMNH to work with Lorenzo
Prendini for 8 weeks in August–October 2004,
studying the scorpion circulatory system using a
corrosion-casting technique and micro computer
tomography.
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Christina Bisulca
M.S. in Art Conservation, University of Delaware
(Winterthur Art Conservation Fellowship, 2003)
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Christina Bisulca completed a B.A. in Chemistry and
Art History at Rutgers University in 1999 and is
presently undertaking an M.S. in Art Conservation
at the University of Delaware. She has been working
with AMNH in the Department of Natural Sciences
Conservation since 2003, as part of the
requirements for her M.S. degree. During her
internship, Bisulca surveyed the state of curation
of the non-spider Arachnid and Myriapod Collection,
co-supervised by Lorenzo Prendini and Conservator
for Natural Sciences Collections Lisa Kronthal. The
results of her study were written up as a report
motivating the need for new glassware and closures
to rehouse the collection. The report was so
persuasive that the necessary upgrades were
supported financially by the administration.
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Amazonas Chagas Jr.
Ph.D. Student, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro Brazil
(Collections Study Grant, 2003)
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Amazonas Chagas Jr. studied Biology at the
Pontificia Universidade Católica, Paraná, Brazil.
In 2001, he began a Masters in Zoology at the Museu
Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,
revising the Neotropical scolopocryptopine
centipedes. After completing his Masters in 2003,
Amazonas travelled to the U.S.A. to work with Dr.
Rowland Shelley at the North Carolina State Museum,
Raleigh, for four months, during which time he also
visited the AMNH, supported by a Collections Study
Grant. At the AMNH, Amazonas studied more than 100
scolopendromorph centipedes from many localities
around the world and has since published three
papers based on the material he examined. In 2004,
Amazonas enrolled for a Ph.D. on the systematics of
the centipede subfamily Scolopocryptopinae at the
Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio. He
also continues to work on the systematics of
Neotropical Scolopendromorpha more generally.
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