Ligia Rosario Benavides PhD Student Phylogeny of the pirate spiders form the family Mimetidae Department of Biological Sciences George Washington University 2023 G Street. NW Washington, D.C. 20052 Tel. Lab: (202) 994-0302 Tel. Secretary: (202) 994-6090 Fax: (202) 994-6100 E-Mail: ligia@gwu.edu

2007-present. Ph.D. Student: Dept. of Biological Sciences The George Washington University.

1996-2004. B.S. in Biology: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. Thesis Title: Comunidades  de arañas asociadas al dosel de bosques de tierra firme e Igapó en la Estación Biológica Mosiro Itajura, Vaupes, Amazonia Colombiana (Canopy spiders communities from terra firme and Igapó forest in Mosiro Itajura Biological Station, Vaupés, Colombian Amazon).

Workshops and courses:

July 21-25 2008. Cladistic Workshop at Ohio State University

August 2006 – August 2007
American Museum of Natural History. Laboratory Technician. Assembling the tree of life: Phylogeny of Spiders, NSF Grant.

September 2005 – August 2006
Harvard University. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. Research Scholar. Systematic of Colombian Neogoveidae (Opiliones: Cyphophthalmi), using morphological and molecular data.

2004-2005
Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales. Taxonomic determination, classification and organization of specimens in the entomological collection.

2004-2005
Research assistant. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias. Orbicular spiders. As a part of the project Characterization of flora and fauna indicator groups at the Colombian Cordillera Oriental.

2005-Present
Collaborator research. Sociedad Colombiana de Espeleología (ESPELEOCOL). Invertebrates diversity in Colombian subterranean ecosystems.

I am intersted in biogeography, evolution and diversity of arachnids, mainly tropical spiders, opiliones and ricinuleids. I am also interested in diversity of cave and canopy arachnids.

My PhD project focuses on the phylogenetic relationships and biogeography of the pirate spiders from the family Mimetidae by means of molecular, morphological and behavioral data and the revision of Gelanor Thorrel, 1869 a genus with neotropical distribution belonging to this family.

2008
June. Panama. Project name: PANCODING: Panamanian Arthropods barcoding iniciative. Collaborator. With Miquel Angel Arnedo, Gustavo Hormiga, Martin Ramirez, Facundo Martin Labarque, Luis Piacentini

2005
June. Colombia. Cordillera Oriental: Huila, Cunday caves

 2004
November. Colombia. Boyaca, Nariño and Amazonas.
June- July. Colombia. Cordillera Oriental. Boyaca and Santander
February-May. Colombia. Amazonas and Vaupes

 2003
September-December. Colombia Amazonas and Vaupes
July. Colombia. Cordillera Occidental. Montane Forest
March. Colombia. Huila. Tatacoa desert.

2007-2012
Weintraub Fellowship in Biological Sciences. George Washington University, Washington DC.
2007
Mortenson and Bunting Awards of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, George Washington University, Washington DC.
2004
Hermano Apolinar Maria Award to the best research in Ecology and Environment. XXXI Congress of Sociedad Colombiana de Entomología (SOCOLEN).

SOCOLEN. Colombian Society of Entomology.
ESPELEOCOL. Colombian Society of Speleology.

2007
 L. Benavides & G. Giribet. Phylogenetic relationships of the Neotropical members of the Cyphophthalmi Family Neogoveidae (Opiliones). XVII International Congress of Arachnology. Sao Pedro, Brazil, August 5-10. Oral communication

 Pinzon, J.; L. Benavides & A. Sabogal. New records of species of orb-weaving spiders (Araneae:Araneidae) from the Colombian Amazon. XVII International Congress of Arachnology. Sao Pedro, Brazil, August 5-10. Poster.

 Giribet, G.; S.L. Boyer; R.M. Clouse; L.R. Benavides & P. Sharma. Biogeography of the world: a case study from cyphophthalmid opiliones, a globally distributed group of arachnids. XVII International Congress of Arachnology. Sao Pedro, Brazil, August 5-10. Oral communication.

 L. Benavides and G. Giribet. Phylogeny of the Tropical Gondwana Cyphophthalmi Family Neogoveidae (Arachnida, Opiliones). Henning XXVI, New Orleans, Lousiana. June 28-July 2. Oral communication.

2006
Pinzon, J.; L. Benavides & A. Sabogal. Orbicular Spiders of Colombian Amazon. II Colombian Congress of Zoology. Santa Marta, Colombia, December 4-10. Oral Communication.

2005
Rico, A. & L. Benavides. Patterns in resources distribution between honey birds and ornitophilic plants in the Rio Ñambi. Natural Reserve. IV Scientific Meeting of Biology students. Oral communication.

2004
Benavides, L. Comunidades de arañas asociadas al dosel de bosques de tierra firme e Igapó en la Estación Biológica Mosiro Itajura, Vaupes, Amazonia Colombiana (Canopy spiders communities from terra firme and Igapó forest in Mosiro Itajura Biological Station, Vaupés, Colombian Amazon). XXXI Meeting of the Sociedad Colombiana de Entomología (SOCOLEN). Oral Communication. 

2003
Benavides, L. Canopy spiders of two forests in Colombian Amazon: preliminary data. IV Arachnological Meeting, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Oral Communication.

Benavides, L., G. Giribet. 2007. An illustrated catalogue to the South American species of the cyphophthalmid family Neogoveidae (Arthropoda, Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi) with a report on 37 new species. Zootaxa. 1509:1-15

Benavides, L., E. Florez. 2007. Comunidades de arañas (Arachnida: Araneae) en microhabitats de dosel en bosques inundables y no inundables de la Amazonía colombiana. Revista Ibérica de Aracnología. Vol 14:49-62.

Boyer S.L., R. Clouse, L. Benavides, P. Sharma, P. Schwendinger, I. Karunarathna, G. Giribet. 2007.Biogeography of the World: a case study with globally distributed arachnids. Journal of Biogeography. 34:2070-2085.

Rico-G., A.; L. Benavides. 2005.  Patterns in resources distribution between honey birds and ornitophilic plants in Rio Ñambi Natural Reserve. Acta Biológica Colombiana, Vol. 10 Nº 2, p.153