Jay Stafstrom

I’m currently investigating the visual system of multiple species of net-casting spiders (Family: Deinopidae). These little guys are among the most interesting spiders I’ve ever read about, let alone had the opportunity to observe in the field. There are so many exciting facets to the story, it would be difficult to fit it all here. In short: all spiders in the family seem dependent on vision to forage, yet only one genus seems to have the visual specializations to match such a need. I’ll be trying to disentangle what’s going on “under the hood,” looking at peripheral structure and central nervous system investment within and across species.