Annui Malla Sanz La Parra

I am a biologist and my principal research interest is centered in what evolutionary and biogeographical processes lead to speciation and diversification of species and to its current diversity and distribution patterns.

In this context, my study is focused in the genus Diplocephalus, a genus of linyphiid spiders with a high diversity and complex taxonomy and morphology, which is particularly diverse in cooler regions across the Holarctic. This makes Diplocephalus a very interesting group to address interesting questions such as why some of the species are widely distributed while other present a narrow distribution, what are the phylogenetic relationships within the genus and among other closely related genera and what is the role of the male head modifications in sexual selection. To resolve these questions, we work under a phylogenetic and morphological approach to infer the evolutionary history and distribution of the group.