Pio Colmenares
Museum Specialist
Research Interests
Collections Responsibility: Arachnida (non-spider), Myriapoda, Chilopoda
Pío is an arachnologist with experience in taxonomy and ecology. His main research interests are the taxonomy, systematics, ecology, conservation and biogeography of Opiliones. In addition to working with Opiliones, he also has experience in the taxonomy of other arachnid orders, such as Amblypygi, Schizomida, Solifugae, and spiders of the family Pholcidae. Pío joined the AMNH staff in 2016 and is currently in charge of the Arachnid (non-Araneae) and Myriapod Collections.
Pío began his studies at the University of Zulia (LUZ) in Maracaibo, Venezuela, where he received his undergraduate degree in biology in 2008. During his time as a student, he worked in the Museum of Biology at La Universidad del Zulia (MBLUZ). Upon graduating, he started working as a research assistant of the Biodiversity Unit at the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC) in Caracas, Venezuela. In 2009 he studied at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, where he received training in curatorial techniques and management of various natural history collections. In 2015, Pío defended his doctoral thesis on Amazonian Harvestmen communities at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA) in Manaus, Brazil
Collections Responsibility: Arachnida (non-spider), Myriapoda, Chilopoda