Research on Spiders - Phil Sirvid
New Zealand spiders are a spectacularly diverse group of animals, yet little is known about them. Various estimates of the size of New Zealand’s spider fauna place the total number of species somewhere in the vicinity of 2500 to 3500, potentially giving us about as many species as the continental United States. However, only about 1100 are formally described and named. Such a basic lack of knowledge hampers activities in a wide range of areas, for example, field ecologists sorting samples, collection managers trying to place collection items, and museums wishing to use accurately named specimens in exhibitions. Despite the huge gaps in our understanding, we know that 95 per cent of New Zealand’s described species are unique to this country.
Spiders are also of great interest to the wider public. An analysis of over 6000 calls related to insects made in Auckland (Landcare Research and Auckland Museum), Wellington (Te Papa), and Dunedin (Otago Museum) over a three-year period showed that fully one-third of them were about spiders, a huge proportion considering the numbers of spiders compared to the numbers of insects. Our spider web page is also very popular.
The purpose of our research is to increase our basic knowledge of New Zealand’s spiders and communicate that knowledge to relevant sectors of the scientific and museum communities as well as to the general public.
Recent research includes work on the taxonomy of hadrotarsine theridiid (comb-footed) spiders and a paper on white-tail spider bites. See a list of recent publications here.
Current research centres on taxonomic studies on New Zealand members of the crab spiders (family Thomisidae) and additional work on the comb-footed spiders (family Theridiidae). Additional updates for our spider web page are also planned.
Research on Lice - Ricardo Palma
Lice are flat, wingless insects that spend their entire life living in the plumage of all kinds of birds and on most species of mammals, that is, they are obligate parasites of warm-blooded animals. As such, they enjoy a comfortable place at the top of the food chain, living in a very cosy, stable environment and with plenty of food around them. They feed on feathers, blood, mucus, and skin debris. However, that easy living makes them entirely dependent on their host, so that, like ship rats, they are doomed when the host dies.They can only survive if they find another host of the same kind close by, close enough to walk onto it. Living in isolation on animals of only one kind means that lice have evolved together with those animals for millions of years in a process called 'co-evolution'. As a result, each host species - or group of very closely related hosts - generally carries unique species of lice. Louse specialists can identify the host without ever seeing it, from examining its lice.
My interest in lice began during my student years in Argentina. When I emigrated to New Zealand, I realised that this country was a paradise of seabirds and shorebirds. So it was a logical choice for me to become a specialist on the lice parasitic on those host groups. I regularly assist the staff of various institutions, such as government departments and societies, to identify unrecognisable remains of beach-wrecked bird specimens. Also, because most seabirds and shorebirds are migratory and can be caught and deloused in any part of the world, I provide louse identifications and write papers for a wide audience, with co-authors from many countries.
Bird lice have a very tough skin and excellent ways of holding onto feathers, so they can remain undamaged and attached to the host for a very long time after it has died. These useful features have resulted in the preservation of 'mummified' lice on skins of birds kept in museum collections for many years. Among my most exciting finds are many lice I have collected from huia skins that are over a hundred years old. The lice belong to a unique species, which together with the huia, is now unfortunately extinct.
I have also collected the remains of seven human headlice from among the fine teeth of a wooden comb buried in Egypt about 1500 years ago and excavated at the beginning of the twentieth century. These proved to be mummified lice! This gave me an interesting insight into the life of the ancient Egyptians, and it also showed the benefits of using fine tooth combs to remove headlice, a technique still used today.
Current research is centred on the louse genus Halipeurus. With about thirty recognised species, Halipeurus has the most species of all the sixteen louse genera found on petrels and albatrosses. All the species of Halipeurus are parasitic on many species of petrels, living mainly on the primary wing feathers. These lice are all very long and slender; this adaptation allows them to insert themselves between feather barbs, so that they stay on the host during flight, and to avoid being removed by the host when it preens.
This project includes the description and naming of four new species of chewing lice of the genus Halipeurus, from petrels which breed on many islands of the South Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. One of the new louse species lives on endangered petrel species from Bermuda and Madeira Islands. This project also includes new generic and species synonymies, as well as several new host-louse records for other Halipeurus species.