Marie Claire Chelini was born in São Paulo, Brazil, same city where she would complete, in 2007, a B.Sc. in Biology at the Universidade de São Paulo. As an undergrad, she developed a study on intra and inter-sexual dimorphism in the cavernicolous harvestman Goniosoma spelaeum, and its relation with the mate guarding behavior of this species, under the supervision of Dr. Pedro Gnaspini. During this study she became familiar with the Atlantic Rain Forest of southeastern Brazil and its caves, where she used to do her fieldwork. Between December 2006 and March 2007 she joined Dr. Eileen Hebets lab in the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (NE, USA), where she studied the anti-predator behavior shown by a Leiobuninae harvestman when faced to Lycosidae spider. She joined the Laboratory of Arthropod Behavior and Evolution in October 2007, planning to start a Master’s thesis in 2009.

Papers by Chelini:

Willemart, R.H. & M.C. Chelini. 2007. Experimental demonstration of close-range olfaction and contact chemoreception in the Brazilian harvestman Iporangaia pustulosa. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 123:73-79.

Willemart, R.H.; M.C. Chelini; R. Andrade & P. Gnaspini. 2007. An ethological approach to a SEM survey on sensorial structures and tegumental gland openings of two neotropical harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones, Gonyleptidae). The Italian Journal of Zoology,74:39-54.