Our lab seeks to increase our knowledge of spiders throughout Eastern North America through traditional taxonomic and phylogenetic means.
The ultimate goal of our research is to allow for better conservation of spiders and their habitats throughout these geographic areas by increasing the knowledge of what's out there using alpha taxonomy.
A revision of the arboreal spider genus, Neodietrichia (Araneae: Linyphiidae)
1/2018 - present
A revision of the cave spider genus, Nesticus (Araneae: Nesticidae)
6/2019 - present
Selected current studies
A revision of the cave spider genus, Liocranoides (Araneae: Zo
4/2016 - present
A revision of Floricomus (Araneae: Linyphiidae)
3/2017 - present
A revision of Ceraticelus (Araneae: Linyphiidae)
8/2018 - present
The spiders of Virginia
8/2004 - present
SPIDER IDENTIFICATION GALLERY
I have compiled images of spiders from some Eastern North American locations and I have posted them here to help amateurs and specialists identify spiders that they may encounter. Most spiders are from Indiana but there are also many from South Carolina and Florida.
The search for lost spider species
Lost species are those that were described by scientists many years ago (often decades, sometimes over a century) that have not been documented as existing (seen, captured, or collected) recently. There are many lost spider species in the world and many from Eastern North America.
Our lab is partnering with other arachnologists to search for these lost species in hopes of re-discovering their existence. Their re-discovery may then lead to conservation measures to improve their chance of survival and to further studies which may illuminate their ephemeral nature.
Goneatara is a small (4 species) group of spiders in the family Linyphiidae. One of these four species (Goneatara eranistes) hasn't been seen since 1923. We are continually searching near its last seen location (southern Virginia) in hopes of finding it.