Since 2003, numerous volunteers, supervised by Ofelia Delgado, Jeremy Huff and Randy Mercurio
have assisted with sorting, rebottling, labelling, reorganizing, and databasing specimens and tissue samples
in the Arachnid and Myriapod Collections of the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the AMNH: Abigail Carlton;
Howard Fiedler; Tiffany Gentry; Jeremy Huff; Danielle Parsons; Fabienne Paumet; Tom Sullivan; Peg Werns.
Significant progress has been made. Some orders (e.g. Amblypygi, Solifugae and Uropygi) have been completely
rebottled and others (e.g. Scorpiones) are nearing completion. Volunteers have also assisted by packing loans,
maintaining the live arachnids and taking photographs thereof. Tiffany Gentry and Howard Fiedler sorted and
filed the Arachnid and Myriapod Reprint Collection and Prendini’s personal reprint collection. Jeremy Huff
undertook two fieldtrips to the Dominican Republic (the second in collaboration with Postdoctoral Fellow,
Erich S. Volschenk), a trip to Martinique and French Guiana, and a trip to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau with
Valerio Vignoli, during which he collected large numbers of amblypygids, myriapods, opilionids, schizomids,
scorpions, spiders and uropygids that have greatly augmented the AMNH collection of specimens and tissue
samples. Ofelia Delgado volunteered with DNA sequencing in the Molecular Systematics Laboratory.
Dr. Sulata Maity was born in steel city Jamshedpur, India. She completed her MS. in Biology at Ranchi University, Ranchi and her Ph.D. at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, India in ‘Environmental Toxicology and Safety’ in 2008. During her Ph.D. research, she was also Research Fellow of University Grant Commission (UGC) and Senior Research Fellow of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India. As a both a Post-doctoral researcher (7.03.2010-6.09.2010), Presov University, Presov (Under National Scholarship Programme, Slovakia) and CSIR Post-Doctoral Research Associate (2008-2011), India had not only fine-tuned her research skill as a life science researcher but also taught her the invaluable skills to manage, lead and collaborate effectively with people. Presently, she is volunteering in the Molecular Systematics Laboratory at the AMNH sequencing scorpions. |
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Suzanna Dodd (2008) Suzanna Dodd was born in San Francisco, California, and spent
most of her childhood and adolescence as a homeschooled student in
Huntington, West Virginia. In 2007 she completed her B.A. in liberal
arts at Sarah Lawrence College, where she pursued her interests in
Islamic mysticism and marine biology . In 2002 she became fascinated
with tarantulas, and has maintained a personal collection ever since.
She began volunteering at AMNH in April 2008 and is currently pursuing
a career in Customs and Border Protection. Suzanna is working with the Scorpion Research Group rebottling the Type collection, part of the main collection, and labelling new acquisitions. |
Ofelia Delgado (2005-2009)
Ofelia Delgado was born in Mexico City. She completed her B.Sc. in Biology
at the Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
in 2000, based on a floristic survey of tropical dry forest. After
graduating, she assisted in the curation of the Section of Odonata in the
Insects National Collection, Instituto de Biología, UNAM for two years. She
studied at that time the Odonata of Jalisco. Her experience in the field
includes collections of arachnids, insects and plants in Central and
Southern Mexico. From 2005-2009, she volunteered in the Molecular Systematics
Laboratory at the AMNH sequencing vaejovid scorpions for the NSF REVSYS Vaejovidae project. |
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Ilsa Kaim (2004-)
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Ilsa has volunteered at the AMNH for over 20 years. She has been working with the Scorpion Research Group to database the reprint collection in Endnote, and databased the Type collection. |
Howard W. Fiedler (2004-)
Howard Fiedler grew up in the Bronx, and explored the AMNH as a child, where he developed a fascination with
natural history. This interest increased during his education at Stuyvesant High School and The City College
of New York, where he earned a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry. Howard then moved to New York University, graduating
as an M.D. Although he spent his professional life as an Ophthalmologist in Milwaukee, WI, Howard maintained a
peripheral interest in natural history. After relocating to New York, he applied for and was accepted as a Volunteer
in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology, where he has assisted with the organization of specimen and reprint
collections since. Howard collects insects informally and is proud to be counted among the Volunteers helping to
maintain the high standards of learning and public service at the AMNH. |
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Tom Sullivan (1996-)
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Tom Sullivan was born in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. He completed an AA degree in Mental
Health in 1985 and is currently working in the Psychiatry Department of Beth Israel Medical Center on an inpatient
unit. Tom has been volunteering in Invertebrate Zoology since 1997, where has assists with the sorting and labelling
of the Arachnid and Myriapod Collections, the packing and unpacking of loans, and the maintenance of the live
arachnids for display purposes. Tom assisted with the resettlement of arachnids and myriapods from the former
Department of Entomology to the new facility in the Natural Science Building on the sixth floor of the Museum.
Tom is Secretary of the New York Entomological Society and has a keen interest in theriidid and sicariid
spiders. |