Wikipedia

Wanda Wesołowska

Wanda Wesołowska(born 11 August 1950) is a Polish zoologist known for her work withjumping spiders.She has described morespeciesof jumping spider than any contemporary writer, and is second only toEugène Simonin the history ofarachnology.Originally a student ofornithology,she developed an interest in jumping spiders while still a student at theSiedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanitiesin the 1970s.

Wanda Wesołowska
A woman in a wood
Wesołowska in 2019
Born
Wanda Nowysz

(1950-08-11)11 August 1950(age 74)
Włocławek,Poland
Education
Scientific career
FieldsArachnology
InstitutionsUniversity of Wrocław
ThesisA revision of the genusHeliophanusCL Koch, 1833 (Aranei: Salticidae)(1984)

Wesołowska published her first work in 1981, which included the description of nine new species of spiders, the first in what would be a prolific career. She moved to theUniversity of Wrocławto continue her studies, and completed her doctoral thesis that described 44 new species of the genusHeliophanus.She joined the faculty of the University of Wrocław in 1985, received ahabilitationin 2000, and remained atenured professorat the university until her retirement in 2020.

Her research has focused on the description, taxonomy andzoogeographyof jumping spiders, and has included extensive work on African genera likeMenemerusandPachyballus.Wesołowska has identified more than 500 species, including half of all those from South Africa, and more than 20 species have been named after her.

Early life

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Wanda Wesołowska (née Nowysz) was born on 11 August 1950 inWłocławek,Poland. As a young child she lived inSzczecinand, in 1968, she started studying biology at the Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences inAdam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.[1]Her original interest wasornithology.She achieved her MSc in Biology for her workObserwacje ptaków wodno-błotnych zbiornika zaporowego na Wiśle pod Włocławkiem w okresie wędrówek( "Observations of Wetland Birds on a Dam Reservoir on the Vistula River in Wloclawek during Migration" ), which was published inActa Zoologica Cracoviensiain 1973.[2]

Career

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Menemerus nigli,first described by Wesołowska in 2012

After graduating, Wesołowska started work at what is now theUniversity of Natural Sciences and Humanities(thenWyższa Szkoła Pedagogiczno-Rolnicza) inSiedlce,where she metJerzy Prószyński.Prószyński introduced her to thejumping spiderfamily (Salticidae), which launched her lifelong interest in the family. She stayed at Siedlce from 1973 until moving to theUniversity of Wroclawin 1978 to start her doctoral studies and published her first paper on jumping spiders in 1981.[1]The paper included descriptions of nine new species, includingEuophrys pygmaeaandIcius parvus,which were both later moved to the genusPhintella,andPlexippoides regius.[3]

Wesołowska achieved a doctorate in natural sciences in 1984, with a thesis looking at the genusHeliophanus,a genus of jumping spider that occurs across theAfrotropicalandPalearctic realms.It is one of the largest and most species-rich genera in the family.[4]In the work, she revisited the entire taxonomy of the genus and described 109 species, of which 44 were new, and was awarded a prize by theMinistry of Science and High Educationfor her work. In 1985, she was hired as a senior research assistant at the University, subsequently entering tenure track as assistant professor and associate professor.[2]In 2000, she was awardedhabilitationon the basis of her workA Revision of the Spider Genus Menemerus in Africa (Araneae: Salticidae),published in theGenus,and in 2009 was promoted to the rank ofprofesor,the highest academic rank in Poland awarded by thePresident.[1][5]

Research

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Wikispecieshas information related toWanda Wesołowska.

Most of Wesołowska's research covers the taxonomy, characteristics, behaviour and zoogeography of jumping spiders. She has worked with 24 other scientists from countries from Austria to Zimbabwe and is the author and co-author of over 120 works.[6]As of January 2023, according to theWorld Spider Catalog,Wesołowska is responsible for naming 572 species and 40 genera.[7]No other contemporary figure has described more new species and genera of jumping spiders. OnlyEugène Simon,who described over 1000 species and 200 genera, has more to his name.[8]

Wesołowska initially focused on the study of spiders in thePalearctic realm,in both Europe and Asia, and undertook pioneering research on the species in the Middle East between 2002 and 2020. She has also made a particular impact on the understanding of jumping spiders in Africa. She is the author or co-author of half of all studies of South African jumping spider species, completed descriptive catalogues of spiders indigenous to African countries, including a study of over 100 spiders in Ivory Coast, and completed revisions of the taxonomy of African species in various jumping spider genera, includingMexcala,in 2009,Pochytoides,in 2018, andPachyballusandPeplometusin 2020. Another area of her interest isspider behaviour,and she has published articles about the way that spidersmimic antsand beetles, and studies of those that specialise in eatingtermitesand femalemosquitos.[8][9][10]

Legacy

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In 2020, Wesołowska was awarded the Lawrence Certificate of Merit by the African Arachnological Society for her contributions to the study of African spiders and afestschriftwas published in her honour by the journalZootaxa,with 41 authors submitting papers to the special edition.[9]In recognition of her endeavours in the field, two genera of jumping spiders,WandaweandWesolowskana,have been dedicated to her.[11][12]

The following species of jumping spiders have also been named after her:

Some of these, includingStenaelurillus wandae,were specifically named in honour of her 70th birthday.[26]

She has also been honoured in the names of other spiders. The list includes the speciesCybaeota wesolowskae,two species ofant spiders,Ranops wandaeandZodarion wesolowskae,thecrab spiderParabomis wandae,thecrevice weaverSahastata wesolowskaeand thelong-jawed orb weaverDiphya wesolowskae.[28][29]

Private life

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Wesołowski met her husband Tomasz while a student of ornithology, with whom she shared a passion for the subject.[1]They co-authored three papers on birds in 1972 and 1973, she beinglead authorin all cases.[22]They moved as a family with her career and continued to share an interest in academic research. They celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with joint publication the ecology of theflatwormLeucochloridiumand its effect on the behaviour of the snailSuccinea putris.The couple's academic interest have also been passed to their daughter Olga, who is a member of staff at the Department of Biophysics and Neurobiology at theWrocław Medical University.[1]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^abcdeWiśniewski 2020,p. 5.
  2. ^ab"prof. dr. Wanda Wesołowska".Uniwersytet Wrocalski(in Polish). 2021. Archived fromthe originalon 4 November 2021.
  3. ^World Spider Catalog (2021)."Included taxa".22.5. Bern: Natural History Museum. Archived fromthe originalon 26 December 2021.
  4. ^Wesołowska 2003,p. 249.
  5. ^Kwiek 2004,p. 336.
  6. ^Wiśniewski 2020,p. 7.
  7. ^World Spider Catalog (2023)."Search taxa".24.0. Bern: Natural History Museum.Archivedfrom the original on 3 April 2023.Retrieved25 January2023.
  8. ^abWiśniewski 2020,p. 6.
  9. ^abDippenaar-Schoeman, Lyle & Haddad 2021,p. 1.
  10. ^Wesołowska & Russell-Smith 2022,p. 4.
  11. ^Koçak & Kemal 2008,p. 3.
  12. ^Azarkina & Haddad 2020,p. 76.
  13. ^Bustamante & Ruiz 2020,p. 117.
  14. ^Szűts 2003,p. 421.
  15. ^Rakov & Logunov 1997,p. 101.
  16. ^Salgado & Ruiz 2020,p. 319.
  17. ^Żabka & Patoleta 2020,p. 379.
  18. ^Azarkina & Haddad 2020,p. 55.
  19. ^Wang & Wang 2020,p. 359.
  20. ^Patoleta & Żabka 2020,p. 284.
  21. ^Cala-Riquelme et al. 2020,p. 152.
  22. ^abcWiśniewski 2020,p. 8.
  23. ^Patoleta & Żabka 2015,p. 259.
  24. ^Wang & Li 2021,p. 149.
  25. ^Caleb et al. 2022,p. 403.
  26. ^abLogunov 2020,p. 210.
  27. ^Zhang & Maddison 2012,p. 77.
  28. ^Wiśniewski 2020,pp. 7–8.
  29. ^Benhalima & Bosmans 2020,p. 105.

Sources

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