Dr. Ivan L. F. Magalhaes
Mentorship
Students
For his Master's degree, Pedro H. Martins investigated the phylogeography of Sicarius thomisoides, a spider endemic to Chilean dry areas, to understand the role of Pleistocene climatic changes in its genetic structure, as well as the taxonomic limits of this species. Now, I co-advise Pedro in his doctorate at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais revising the taxonomy and biogeography of Micrathena spiny spiders belonging in the triangularispinosa group.
Elis M. G. Santana is studying the fossil spiders of the Cretaceous Lagerstätte in the Araripe Basin, in northeastern Brazil, as part of her pursuit of a Master's degree at Universidade Regional do Cariri, which I co-advise. With only a handful of described species, this site is one of the few worldwide bearing Mesozoic spiders from the former supercontinent Gondwana.