Jonathan A. Coddington

Biography

Jonathan A. Coddington, Senior Scientist, Curator of Arachnids & Myriapods & Director, Global Genome Initiative, Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History NMNH, United States. He studied B.S. 1975 in Yale University, M.A. 1978 in Harvard University, 1984 PhD. Harvard University

Research Interest

Research spans four broad topics: the systematics and evolution of spiders, especially orbweavers; issues in systematic theory and method; the theory and design of biological inventories; and, most recently, biodiversity genomics. Research on spider systematics has been directed at producing and synthesizing a first estimate of the higher phylogeny of spiders (e.g. "families"), especially orb-weaving spiders and their relatives. The resulting cladograms have been applied to empirical and theoretical studies of adaptation, behavior, evolution of web architecture, silk glands and spinneret spigot morphology, male genitalia, sexual size dimorphism, and patterns of species richness in spiders. I am interested in how adaptational hypotheses are developed and tested, as well as criteria for cladistic support. As a museum scientist, it also seems appropriate to focus on design and evaluation of rapid, efficient, quantitative sampling protocols to better understand the structure and distribution of biodiversity. Finally, the rapidly developing field of genomics will transform biodiversity science and, museum science, from the field to the laboratory.