Living Fossils: The Fascinating World of Scorpions
Join us for an evening exploring the world of scorpions with Dr Lorenzo Prendini, Curator of Arachnida and Myriapoda at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, a world expert on these notorious arachnids. Dr Prendini will discuss, among other topics, the antiquity and diversity of scorpions; their medical importance and pharmacological potential; fascinating behavior and life history, from courtship rituals to parental care; ability to fluoresce under ultraviolet light; role as indicators of environmental change; and threats to their survival posed by human activities. Prepare to leave with new respect and appreciation for one of the world’s oldest lineages of terrestrial organisms.
Lorenzo Prendini, Ph.D.
Curator of Arachnida and Myriapoda, American Museum of Natural History, New York
scorpion.amnh.org
Profile of Lorenzo Prendini
For over 15 years, Dr Lorenzo Prendini has studied the systematics, biogeography, and evolution of scorpions, using a combination of morphological, genomic and distributional data, and diverse analytical tools. A native of South Africa, Dr Prendini graduated from the University of Cape Town in 2001 and was employed as Curator of Arachnida and Myriapoda at the American Museum of Natural History in 2002, where he has worked since. Dr Prendini’s research on scorpions is focused in three areas: reconstructing the phylogeny and revising the higher classification of scorpions; investigating biogeographical patterns of scorpion distribution at continental and intracontinental levels; inventorying the biodiversity and revising the systematics of African, North American and Australasian scorpions, work in North American and Australasia funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. Dr Prendini also studies the systematics of three little known arachnid orders: whipspiders (Amblypygi), sunspiders (Solifugae) and whipscorpions (Uropygi). The search for interesting arachnids has taken Prendini and his Scorpion Systematics Research Group (scorpion.amnh.org) to more than 35 countries on all continents except Antarctica.
6:30 pm: Reception
7:00 pm: Lecture
Cost: Members free
Member’s guests will be charged $10
Non-members will be charged $10