Email:

lorenzoSPAMFILTER@amnh.org

Phone:

212-769-5843

Fax:

212-769-5277

Curriculum Vitae (short version)

Education

• University of Cape Town, Ph.D., 2001
• University of Cape Town, B.Sc., (Hons), 1995 
• University of the Witwatersrand, B.Sc., 1994

Research Interests

Dr. Prendini’s research addresses the systematics, biogeography and evolution of scorpions, using a combination of morphological, molecular and distributional data, and diverse analytical tools. Current research on scorpions is focused in three main areas: reconstructing the phylogeny and revising the contentious suprageneric classification of scorpions; systematic revisions of Afrotropical, New World, and Australasian scorpion families (work in the latter two regions conducted mostly by trainees under Prendini’s supervision and forming part of grant-funded initiatives); testing adaptational and biogeographical hypotheses in sub-Saharan Africa. Prendini is developing similar research programs into the systematics of three little known arachnid orders: whip spiders (Amblypygi), sun spiders (Solifugae) and whip scorpions (Thelyphonida). The search for interesting arachnids has taken Prendini and his research group to more than 25 countries on all continents except Antarctica. Besides arachnids, Prendini is interested in the evolution of insect-plant associations and in theoretical issues concerning the phylogenetic analysis of morphological data including, but not limited to, methods for representing terminal taxa, differential character weighting, dynamic homology of trichobothria, and the coding of sexually dimorphic and serially homologous characters.

• Publications

  (Selected)

  Prendini, L. 2000. Phylogeny and classification of the superfamily Scorpionoidea Latreille 1802 (Chelicerata, Scorpiones): An exemplar approach. Cladistics 16(1): 1–78.

  Prendini, L. 2001. Substratum specialization and speciation in southern African scorpions: the Effect Hypothesis revisited. Pp. 113–138 In: Fet, V. and Selden, P.A. (Eds.) Scorpions 2001. In Memoriam Gary A. Polis.British Arachnological Society, Burnham Beeches, Bucks, UK.

  Prendini, L. 2001. Species or supraspecific taxa as terminals in cladistic analysis? Groundplans versus exemplars revisited. Systematic Biology 50(2): 290–300.

  Prendini, L., Crowe, T.M. and Wheeler, W.C. 2003. Systematics and biogeography of the family Scorpionidae (Chelicerata: Scorpiones), with a discussion on phylogenetic methods. Invertebrate Systematics 17(2): 185–259.

  Prendini, L. 2005. Scorpion diversity and distribution in southern Africa: Pattern and process. Pp. 25–68 In: Huber, B.A., Sinclair, B.J. & Lampe, K.-H. (Eds.) African Biodiversity: Molecules, Organisms, Ecosystems. Proceedings of the 5^th International Symposium on Tropical Biology, Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn. Springer Verlag, New York.

  Prendini, L., Weygoldt, P. and Wheeler, W.C. 2005. Systematics of the Damon variegatus group of African whip spiders (Chelicerata: Amblypygi): Evidence from behaviour, morphology and DNA. Organisms,Diversity and Evolution 5: 203–236.

  Prendini, L. and Wheeler, W.C. 2005. Scorpion higher phylogeny and classification, taxonomic anarchy, and standards for peer review in online publishing.Cladistics 21(5): 446–494.

  Prendini, L., Volschenk, E.S., Maaliki, S. and Gromov, A.V. 2006. A ‘living fossil’ from Central Asia: the morphology of Pseudochactas ovchinnikovi Gromov, 1998 (Scorpiones: Pseudochactidae), with comments on its phylogenetic position. Zoologischer Anzeiger 245: 211–248.

  Vignoli, V. and Prendini, L.2009. Systematic revision of the troglomorphic scorpion family Typhlochactidae (Scorpiones: Chactoidea). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 326: 1–94.

  Prendini, L., Francke, O.F. and Vignoli, V. 2010. Troglomorphism, trichobothriotaxy and typhlochactid phylogeny (Scorpiones, Chactoidea): More evidence that troglobitism is not an evolutionary dead-end. Cladistics 26: 117–142.

• Teaching Experience

  (Recent)

  Faculty Appointments

  • Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, CUNY, 2003 - present.
  • Adjunct Professor, Department of Entomology, Cornell University, 2004–present.
  • Adjunct Professor, Department of Entomology, Colorado State University, 2008–present.

  Courses Taught

  • RGGS Core Course in Systematics (Classification, Taxonomy, Nomenclature, PhyloCode, DNA Barcoding, Species Concepts, Reticulation, Phylogeography and Coalescence), 2008–2010

  Graduate Advisees

  • Stephanie Loria, RGGS
  • Lionel Monod, CUNY
  • Edmundo González Santillan, CUNY
  • Lauren Esposito, CUNY 

  Graduate Committees

  • Tharina Bird, Colorado State University
  • Edmundo González Santillan, CUNY (Chair)
  • Stephanie Loria, RGGS (Chair)
  • Ansel Payne, RGGS