Photo: Chris A. Hamilton

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.

- Carl Sagan -

RESEARCH

My research deals generally with trapdoor spiders in the family Halonoproctidae. These spiders are distributed across the globe, on every continent but Antarctica. They create silk-lined burrows with cryptic trap doors in which they spend their entire lives. Broadly, I am studying the evolutionary history and phylogenetic relationships among the members of the Halonoproctidae, and describing a large amount of previously undocumented diversity along the way. Specifically, my dissertation addresses the monophyly of the family, phylogeography of two genera, Hebestatis and Bothriocyrtum, which occur in the California Floristic Province, and a revision of the genus Ummidia in North and South America.

Strait of Gibralter

Ummidia, Portugal

Hebestatis

Strait of Gibralter

1/10

Photo: Chris A. Hamilton

Working on this wide spread and diverse group has allowed me the opportunity to travel to many places. I have had the opportunity to go on collecting expeditions to places like Costa Rica, California, and the Mediterranean. Getting to find these amazing creatures in their natural habitat is always exciting and allows me the opportunity both to learn more about the natural history of these spiders and also to work with other amazing scientists in the field.

Godwin, R. L., Opatova, V., Garrison, N. L., Hamilton, C. A., & Bond, J. E. (2018). Phylogeny of a cosmopolitan family of morphologically conserved trapdoor spiders (Mygalomorphae, Ctenizidae) using Anchored Hybrid Enrichment, with a description of the family, Halonoproctidae Pocock 1901. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 126, 303-313.

Stephens, J.D., Godwin, R.L. and Folkerts, D.R., 2015. Distinctions in Pitcher Morphology and Prey Capture of the Okefenokee Variety within the Carnivorous Plant Species Sarracenia minor. Southeastern Naturalist, 14(2), pp.254-266.

Bond, J.E., Garrison, N.L., Hamilton, C.A., Godwin, R.L., Hedin, M. and Agnarsson, I., 2014. Phylogenomics resolves a spider backbone phylogeny and rejects a prevailing paradigm for orb web evolution. Current Biology,24(15), pp.1765-1771.

Bond, J.E. and Godwin, R.L., 2013. Taxonomic revision of the Trapdoor spider genus Eucteniza Ausserer (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Euctenizidae).ZooKeys, (356), p.31.

Academic Publications

Research Funding Acquired

2015, 2016 - Auburn University Graduate School Research Fellowship, $500

2015 - Auburn University Museum of Natural History Collection Improvement Grant, $2000

2010 - Alabama Academy of Science Research Grant, $250