Hi, my name is Buzz. I've always been interested in all animals (apart from the apes) but only had a lot to do with spiders for the last 4 years. I lived in Glasgow until June this year and there I was the head keeper of the animals at the university's zoology museum - most of these were inverts and we had a handful of tarantulas and scorpions. I got used to looking after them and studying their behaviour there before coming over here. Now I'm in Christchurch in New Zealand and I'm doing my MSci in zoology. I have a few projects going towards this concerning the katipo and redback spiders, Latrodectus katipo/hasseltii. It's heaps of fun and I'd like to continue studying arachnids. I like all of them but particularly the spiders, pseudoscorpions and mites. At the moment I'm looking for ideas for my PhD and ideally I'd like to continue my Latrodectus studies or study the ecology of pseudoscorpions or mites. What fascinates me about spiders is their behaviour. The more I read about it the more interesting it becomes! Of course with mites and pseudoscorpions so little study has been done that I'm keen to see what's beneath the surface. Mites are so diverse and important for ecosystems in ways we're only beginning to understand while hardly anything at all is known about pseudoscorpions. I found one while I was out doing fieldwork that had hold of a fly twice as big as itself with one claw. The fly was buzzing with all its mite but the pseudoscorpion didn't let go. That's pretty darn impressive to me.
Anyway, I'm here to learn mostly although I have a wee bit of experience with the Latrodectus species so who knows, I might have some knowledge that is of value to someone.
Anyway, I'm here to learn mostly although I have a wee bit of experience with the Latrodectus species so who knows, I might have some knowledge that is of value to someone.