I'm an arachnologist from Brisbane, Australia. I work primarily with spiders of the Infraorder Mygalomorphae, which includes the tarantulas, trapdoor spiders, funnel-web spiders and their relatives. These are generally large, robust spiders that live in a burrow or retreat. I am dedicated to learning the intricacies of how these mysterious spiders live their lives, and linking this to evolutionary processes. I also discover and describe new species so that they may be prioritised for conservation.
I use phylogenetic methods to reveal how different species are related to each other, and comparative phylogenetic analyses to answer questions about how and why particular morphological features or behaviours have evolved, or why species live in particular areas. To discover and describe new species, I combine the methods mentioned above with detailed examination of hundreds (or thousands) of specimens kept in Australia's precious natural history museums.
Photos from the field...