Tarantulas of Australia: phylogenetics and venomics

Abstract

Theraphosid spiders (tarantulas) are venomous arthropods found in most tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Most Australian tarantula species were described more than 100 years ago and there have been no taxonomic revisions. Seven species of theraphosids are described for Australia, pertaining to four genera. They have large Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr Robert Raven, Dr Lyn Cook, Associate Professor Bryan Fry and Professor Glenn King, for all support and mentoring during the course of this study. Their indispensable advice was key to the completion of this thesis. I would like to thank all my laboratory colleagues, especially James Dobson, Nadia Panagides, Ethan Briggs, Alicia Toon and Paul Lin, that helped me through this journey. Without your initial guidance, I could not have achieved this. A great thank you to my field assistants, Daniel Dashevsky, Ethan Briggs, Perry Bennion and Alexandre Dal Bo. The laughs and adventures will be always remembered. Thanks to the BushBlitz program of the Australian Department of Environment and Energy, without which this research would not have been possible. A huge thank you to my wife, Aline Sampaio Villa, to keep me sane, focused and persistent though my PhD. To help share the load of life in good and bad moments and to help me to see a brighter future.