Researchers involved in African arachnology (listed alphabetically)
Ingi Agnarsson
Ingi’s work covers a broad range of topics, not only dealing with spiders, but including taxonomy, phylogeny and evolutionary biology of social theridiid spiders, with emphasis on the genus Anelosimus and orb-weaving spiders.
E-mail: iagnarsson@gmail.com
Youcef Alioua
Youcef is involved in research on the spiders of Algeria, with an emphasis on their taxonomy, biodiversity and ecology.
E-mail: youcef900@yahoo.fr
Galina Azarkina
Galina has worked extensively on the Asian and Afrotropical Aelurillini, Plexippini and Ballini (Salticidae). She is collaborating on a study of the South African Salticidae taxonomy and species barcoding.
E-mail: urmakuz@yahoo.com
Souâd Benhalima
Souâd studies the taxonomy and biodiversity of spiders in Morocco, including Gnaphosidae, Zodariidae and Agelenidae.
E-mail: souad.benhalima@is.um5.ac.ma
Tharina Bird
Tharina revised the Afrotropical Ammoxenidae for her M.Sc, and is currently working on the Afrotropical Solifugae as part of the Global Survey and Inventory of Solifugae project. She is the current Chairperson of the African Arachnological Society.
E-mail: tharinab@gmail.com
Alexandre Bonaldo
Alex is a taxonomist working primarily on the Neotropical fauna. Currently he collaborating on projects on the taxonomy of selected Afrotropical Corinnidae and Miturgidae.
E-mail: bonaldo@museu-goeldi.br
Rob Bosmans
Rob’s research has focused primarily on the North African spider fauna, but he has published several important papers on Afrotropical Tetragnathidae and Linyphiidae.
E-mail: rop_bosmans@telenet.be
Jan Bosselaers
Jan has made several important contributions on the systematics of the Afrotropical Corinnidae, Liocranidae and Tetragnathidae, and continues taxonomic and phylogenetic work on Corinnidae and Liocranidae.
E-mail: dochterland@pandora.be
Ansie Dippenaar-Schoeman
Ansie’s research covers a broad spectrum of projects, including the taxonomy of Afrotropical Thomisidae, and spider diversity in agroecosystems and conserved areas in South Africa. She also provides identifications for spiders for surveys ongoing in South Africa as part of the South African National Survey of Arachnida (SANSA), and as part of post-graduate student projects. She is involved in the PBI Oonopidae project as a senior investigator, and is the former curator of the National Collection of Arachnida in Pretoria, South Africa.
E-mail: dippenaaransie@gmail.com
Hisham El-Hennawy
Most of Hisham's research has concentrated on the spiders of Egypt and surrounding countries, particularly their taxonomy and biodiversity.
E-mail: el-hennawy@hotmail.com
Moira FitzPatrick
Moira completed her Ph.D revising the genus Zelotes (Gnaphosidae) in the Afrotropical Region, and continues studies on the Afrotropical Gnaphosidae.
E-mail: moirajane.fitz@gmail.com
Gonzalo Giribet
Gonzalo is involved in several studies on the systematics of Opiliones, including molecular and biogeographical studies of the mite harvestmen (Cyphophthalmi).
E-mail: ggiribet@g.harvard.edu
Matjaz Gregoric
Matjaz researchers the reproductive biology and behaviour of web-building spiders, with a particular focus on Araneidae and Nephilidae.
Email: matjaz.gregoric@zrc-sazu.si
Charles Griswold
Charles was involved in the Assembling the Tree of Life project as a clademaster and was a principle investigator on the PBI Oonopidae project, where his research focused on the Madagascan fauna. Previously, he revised many Afrotropical spider taxa, including the Cyatholipidae, Migidae, Phyxelididae and Zoropsidae.
E-mail: moggridgea@yahoo.com
Charles Haddad
Charles conducts taxonomic research on Afrotropical Corinnidae, Trachelidae, Salticidae and other families, and is also involved in several projects on spider biodiversity in South African conserved areas and natural habitats, as well as termitophagous and myrmecophagous spiders.
E-mail: haddadcr@ufs.ac.za
Mark Harvey
Mark is involved with a variety of taxonomic projects on various arachnid orders, with emphasis on the more poorly known “smaller orders”. Although much of his work focuses on the Australian fauna, he has also collaborated on various projects involving the pseudoscorpion fauna of the Afrotropical Region.
E-mail: harveym@museum.wa.gov.au
Joh Henschel
Joh has spent most of his career researching the ecology and biology of dune-dwelling arachnids and other organisms in the Namib Desert in Namibia, with particular focus on sparassid and eresid spiders.
E-mail: joh.henschel@gmail.com
Arnaud Henrard
Arnaud is involved in the systematics and phylogeny of the families Zodariidae and Ctenidae in the Afrotropical Region, with revisions and descriptions of several new genera.
E-mail: arnaud.henrard@gmail.com
Bernhard Huber
Bernhard is a taxonomic specialist on the Pholcidae (daddy long-legs spiders), and is revising several genera from all corners of the globe. He is also interested in the evolution of genitalic structures and their role in reproduction in spiders.
E-mail: b.huber@zfmk.de
Robert Jackson
Robert is primarily involved in studies of jumping spider behaviour and biology, and many of his projects involve species from East Africa.
E-mail: robert.jackson@canterbury.ac.nz
Rudy Jocqué
The focus of Rudy’s studies is the family Zodariidae on a global scale, while he has been involved in revisions of several genera of Afrotropical Linyphiidae, Lycosidae, Ctenidae and Corinnidae, amongst others. He also described the families Halidae and Chummidae from Africa. He is the former curator of the vast collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium.
E-mail: rudy.jocque@africamuseum.be
Ourida Kherbouche-Abrous
Ourida has made many important contributions documenting the spider fauna of Algeria, with a focus on their biodiversity, ecology and taxonomy.
Email: Ouridakherbouche@yahoo.fr
Matjaz Kuntner
Matjaz is involved in studies on the evolutionary biology and taxonomy of web-building araneoid spiders. His focus has also been on the systematics of the families Nephilidae and Pisauridae, which has resolved many taxonomic problems associated with these spiders.
E-mail: kuntner@gmail.com
Norman Larsen
Norman is an amateur arachnologist and photographer interested in the behaviour and biodiversity of South African spiders. Together with Ansie Dippenaar-Schoeman, he is preparing a checklist of the spiders of the Cape Peninsula.
Further information
E-mail: avellopsis@telkomsa.net
Astri Leroy
Astri Leroy is an amateur arachnologist with a wide interest in the Araneae of southern Africa, having co-authored the popular book "Spiders of Southern Africa" with John Leroy. She has steered The Spider Club of Southern Africa for several decades, aiming to bridge the gap between the general public and professional arachnologists. Astri is currently compiling an illustrated checklist of the spiders of Brenthurst Gardens in Johannesburg.
E-mail: astri@jml.co.za
Dmitri Logunov
Dmitri's research focuses on taxonomy of Salticidae, particularly from Asia, but he has also made many valuable contributions to the taxonomy of the Afrotropical fauna.
E-mail: Dmitri.V.Logunov@manchester.ac.uk
Leon Lotz
Leon’s research focuses on the taxonomy of medically important spider genera in the Afrotropical region, taxonomy of Archaeidae, and on the orders Opiliones and Scorpiones in South Africa. He recently completed revisions of Cheiracanthium, Loxosceles and Sicarius from the Afrotropical Region.
E-mail: leonlotz57@gmail.com
Wilson Lourenco
The primary focus of Wilson's research is the taxonomy of scorpions, with particular emphasis on the species from Madagascar and North Africa.
E-mail: wilson.lourenco@mnhn.fr
Robin Lyle
Robin completed her MSc on the taxonomy of Afrotropical tracheline sac spiders (Corinnidae). She is currently the collections manager at the National Collection of Arachnida in Pretoria, South Africa.
E-mail: lyler@arc.agric.za
Jean-Louis Juakaly Mbumba
Jean-Louis completed his PhD studying changes in community composition of ground-dwelling spiders in the Kisangani Region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
E-mail: juakalylouis@yahoo.fr
Jan-Andries Neethling
Africa's only currently pseudoscorpion taxonomist, Jan-Andries completed his M.Sc on South African Geogarypidae and has since been involved in studies of Gymnobisiidae. He is now based at the National Museum in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
E-mail: ja.neethling@nasmus.co.za
Ximena Nelson
Ximena is primarily involved in studies of jumping spider behaviour, communication and biology, and some of her projects have involved species from East Africa.
E-mail: ximena.nelson@canterbury.ac.nz
Lorenzo Prendini
Lorenzo’s research is focused on the systematics of Afrotropical scorpions. Several revisions have now been completed, including Parabuthus and Opistophthalmus, and also of the southern African Amblypygi.
E-mail: Lorenzo@amnh.org
Tony Russell-Smith
Now retired, Tony is able to dedicate most of his spare time to revisions of Afrotropical wolf and ground spiders. He is also interested in spider diversity and ecology in tropical Africa.
E-mail: mrussellsmith@btinternet.com
Nikolaj Scharff
Nikolaj has primarily been involved in studies of Afrotropical Linyphiidae, with emphasis on the montane fauna of East Africa. Current research includes a revision and phylogenetic analysis of the araneid subfamily Gasteracanthinae.
E-mail: NScharff@snm.ku.dk
Tamas Szuts
Tamas has completed studies of several Salticidae genera from the Afrotropical region, including a revision of the genus Tomocyrba. His present research is focusing on the phylogeny of the giant goblin spiders (Orsolobidae) of the world.
E-mail: tamas.szuts@gmail.com
Charles Warui
Charles completed his Ph.D study on the ecology of spiders in dry Kenyan savanna, and is currently involved in a biodiversity survey of the Taita Hills in Kenya. He is an ecologist using spiders and molluscs as bioindicators.
E-mail: cwarui@mut.ac.ke
Wanda Wesolowska
Wanda has spent most of her career revising Afrotropical jumping spider genera. Some of her most important works include revisions of Heliophanus and Menemerus, which greatly improved our knowledge of these genera. Further collaboration includes identification of salticid material from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, Lesotho, Mozambique and Ethiopia.
E-mail: wanda.h.wesolowska@gmail.com
Konrad Wisniewski
Konrad is a salticidologist revising Afrotropical jumping spiders and describing country faunas in collaboration with Wanda Wesolowska.
E-mail: konrad.wisniewski.araneae@gmail.com
Hannah Wood
Hannah conducts research on the spider families Palpimanidae, Mecysmaucheniidae and Archaeidae, including studies of their systematics, biomechanics and predation behaviour.
Further information
E-mail: woodh@si.edu
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