Dr Alireza Zamani

I have been interested in spiders ever since I can remember: I recall spending most of my childhood collecting and rearing different species of spiders from our small garden in Tehran, reading upon their life styles and watching documentaries about them. It was during my time in the elementary school that I’ve made my first “discovery”, which was the collecting of a recluse spider from our home. A thorough search in the internet and contacting Iranian zoologists lead to the conclusion that no species of recluse spiders had been recorded from Iran by that time. Although I was excited with my discovery, of course, I was not able to identify the species during that time, and the specimen was preserved and left in my closet for several years.

During my High School, my fascination with spiders continued to grow. Under the influence of my High School biology teacher, I decided to study Animal Biology at the University of Tehran. During the early weeks of my studies at the University, I was able to use the laboratory equipment to identify my mysterious recluse spider as Loxosceles rufescens, published the results by the end of my second semester, and presented the finding at the 19^th International Congress of Arachnology in Kenting National Park, Taiwan. The publication of my first scientific paper and my participation in an international congress motivated me to become more serious with the documentation of the Iranian spider fauna. During my bachelor period, I was able to participate in and conduct several expeditions, record over a hundred new taxa for the fauna of Iran, and describe dozens of new species, which earned me the great honor of being the youngest Iranian in the history with an author citation in Zoology. It was also during this time that I started to write a book, “Field Guide to the Spiders and Scorpions of Iran”, which is the first field guide devoted to the arachnids of the Middle East. After earning my bachelor’s degree in 2016, I continued my studies at the University of Tehran for my M.Sc. degree, with my thesis focusing on the taxonomy of the long-tailed ground spiders (the genus Pterotricha).

After completing my M.Sc. degree in 2018, I relocated to Finland to commence my doctoral studies at the University of Turku. I successfully defended my thesis and graduated with honors in 2023, with my research centering on the systematics, diversity, and distribution of Iranian spiders. Presently, I am a researcher at the Biodiversity Unit of the University of Turku. I continue to conduct expeditions in remote regions of the world and enthusiastically search through thousands of unstudied museum specimens in pursuit of new discoveries in the wonderful world of arachnids.