Research

I’m an evolutionary biologist working on various fronts. My main research applies phylogenetics, and population genetics to address evolutionary questions with a focus on spiders. Current topics include evolution of sociality in spiders, evolutionary biomechanical of spider silk, and a large project on the biogeography of the Caribbean and the role of dispersal in diversification.

Selected Publications

• Agnarsson I, Kuntner M. 2012. The Generation of a Biodiversity Hotspot: Biogeography and Phylogeography of the Western Indian Ocean Islands. In Kesara Anamthawat-Jonsson (Ed.): Current Topics in Phylogenetics and Phylogeography of Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems. Rijeka: In Tech Publishers, pp. 33-82. ISBN 978-953-51-0217-5
• Agnarsson I. 2012. Systematics of new subsocial and solitary Australasian Anelosimus species (Araneae, Theridiidae). Invertebrate Systematics 26: 1-16.
• Agnarsson I, Kuntner M, Blackledge TA. Darwin’s bark spider. 2012. In: McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. V. 11. New York, McGraw-Hill, pp. 52-54.
• Blackledge TA, Kuntner M, Agnarsson I. 2011. The form and function of spider orb webs: evolution from silk to ecosystems. In Jérôme Casas, editor: Advances in Insect Physiology 41: 175-262, Burlington: Academic Press.
• Kuntner M, Agnarsson I. 2011. Phylogeography of a successful aerial disperser: the golden orb spider Nephila on Indian Ocean islands. BMC Evolutionary Biology 11: 119.
• May-Collado LJ, Agnarsson I. 2011. Phylogenetic analysis of conservation priorities for aquatic mammals and their terrestrial relatives. PLoS One 6(7): 1-10, e22562. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0022562
• Kuntner M, Agnarsson I. 2011. Biogeography and diversification of hermit spiders on Indian Ocean islands (Nephilidae: Nephilengys). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 59: 477-488
• Agnarsson I, Zambrana-Torrelio CM, Flores Saldaña NP, May-Collado LJ. 2011. A time-calibrated species-level phylogeny of bats (Chiroptera, Mammalia). PLoS Currents: Tree of Life. Version 44. 2011 Jan 4 [revised 2011 Feb 4]. Available from: http://knol.google.com/k/ingi-agnarsson/a-time-calibrated-species-level/3chrbtx927cxs/5.
• Gregorič M, Agnarsson I, Blackledge TA, Kuntner M. 2011. Darwin's bark spider: giant prey in giant orb webs (Araneidae: Caerostris darwini)? Journal of Arachnology 39: 287-295. *Featured in Nature 479: 152-153
• Kuntner M, May-Collado L, Agnarsson I. 2011. Phylogeny and conservation priorities of afrotherian mammals (Afrotheria, Mammalia). Zoologica Scripta 40: 1-15.
• Vélez-Zuazo X, Agnarsson I. 2011. Shark tales: A molecular species level phylogeny of sharks (Selachimorpha, Chondrichthyes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 58: 207-217
• Agnarsson I, Avilés L, Maddison WP. 2010. Complete separation along matrilines in a social spider metapopulation inferred from hypervariable mitochondrial DNA region. Molecular Ecology 19: 3052-3063
• Agnarsson I, Kuntner M, May-Collado LJ. 2010. Dogs, cats, and kin: a molecular species-level phylogeny of Carnivora. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54: 726–745
• Agnarsson I, Kuntner M, Blackledge TA. 2010. Bioprospecting finds the toughest biological material: extraordinary silk from a giant riverine orb. PLoS One 5(9): 1-9. *Featured in Science 330: 21.
• Martén-Rodríguez S, Fenster CB, Agnarsson I, Skog LE, Zimmer EA. 2010. Evolutionary breakdown of pollination specialization in a Caribbean plant radiation. New Phytologist 188: 403-417
• Sensenig A, Agnarsson I, Blackledge TA. 2010. Behavioral and biomaterial coevolution in spider orb webs Journal of Evolutionary Biology 23: 1839-1856
• Agnarsson I, Blackledge T. 2009. Can a spider web be too sticky? Tensile mechanics constrain the evolution of capture spiral stickiness in orb weaving spiders. Journal of Zoology 277: 134-140
• Agnarsson I, Boutry C, Wong S-C, Baji A, Dhinojwala A, Sensenig AT, Blackledge TA. 2009. Supercontraction forces in spider dragline silk depend on hydration rate. Zoology 112: 325-331
• Agnarsson I, Dhinojwala A, Sahni V, Blackledge TA. 2009. Spider silk as a novel high performance biomimetic muscle driven by humidity. Journal of Experimental Biology 212: 1990-1994
• Blackledge TA, Boutry C, Wong S-C, Baji A, Dhinojwala A, Sahni V, Agnarsson I. 2009. How super is supercontraction? Permanent versus cyclic responses to humidity in spider dragline silk. Journal of Experimental Biology 212: 1981-1989
• Blackledge TA, Coddington J, Scharff N, Szuts T, Wenzel J, Hayashi C, Agnarsson I. 2009. Reconstructing web evolution and spider diversification in the molecular era. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106: 5229-5234
• Coddington JA, Agnarsson I, Miller J, Kuntner M, Hormiga G. 2009. Undersampling bias: the null hypothesis for singleton species in tropical arthropod biodiversity surveys. Journal of Animal Ecology 78: 573–584
• Kuntner M, Agnarsson I. 2009. Phylogeny accurately predicts behavior in Indian Ocean Clitaetra spiders (Araneae: Nephilidae) Invertebrate Systematics 23: 193-204
• Agnarsson I, Coddington JA. 2008. Quantitative tests of primary homology. Cladistics 24: 51-61.
• Agnarsson I, May-Collado L. 2008. The phylogeny of Cetartiodactyla: the importance of dense taxon sampling, missing data, and the remarkable promise of Cytochrome b to provide reliable species-level phylogenies. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 48: 964–985
• Agnarsson I, Miller J. 2008. Is ACCTRAN better than DELTRAN? Cladistics 24: 1032-1038
• Eberhard WG, Agnarsson I, Levi HW. 2008. Web forms and phylogeny of theridiid spiders (Araneae: Theridiidae): chaos from order? Systematics and Biodiversity 6: 415-475
• Agnarsson I, Kuntner M. 2007. Taxonomy in a changing world: seeking solutions for a science in crisis. Systematic Biology 56: 531-539.
• Agnarsson I, Maddison WP, Avilés L. 2007. The phylogeny of the social Anelosimus spiders (Araneae: Theridiidae) inferred from six molecular loci and morphology. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 43: 833-851
• Avilés L, Agnarsson I, Salazar P, Purcell J, Iturralde G, Yip E, Powers KS, Bukowski T. 2007. Altitudinal pattern of sociality in the spider genus Anelosimus and the biology of a new mid-elevation social species in Ecuador. American Naturalist 170: 783-792.
• May-Collado LJ, Agnarsson I, Wartzok D. 2007b. A phylogenetic review of tonal sound production in whales. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7: 136.
• Agnarsson I. 2006a. A revision of the New World eximius lineage of Anelosimus (Araneae, Theridiidae) and a phylogenetic analysis using worldwide exemplars. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 146: 453-593.
• Agnarsson I, Avilés L, Coddington JA, Maddison WP. 2006. Social theridiid spiders – repeated origins of an evolutionary dead-end. Evolution 60: 2342-2351
• Kuntner M, Agnarsson I. 2006. Are the Linnean and phylogenetic nomenclatural systems combinable? Recommendations for Biological Nomenclature. Systematic Biology 55: 774-784.
• May-Collado L, Agnarsson I. 2006. Cytochrome b and Bayesian inference of whale phylogeny. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 38: 344–354.
• Agnarsson I. 2004. Morphological phylogeny of cobweb spiders and their relatives (Araneae, Araneoidea, Theridiidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 141: 447-626.
• Arnedo MA, Coddington J, Agnarsson I, Gillespie RG. 2004. From a comb to a tree: Phylogenetic relationships of the comb-footed spiders (Araneae, Theridiidae) inferred from nuclear and mitochondrial genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 31: 225-245.
• Agnarsson I. 2002. Sharing a web - on the relation of sociality and kleptoparasitism in theridiid spiders (Theridiidae, Araneae). Journal of Arachnology 30: 181-188.
• Agnarsson I. 1996. Icelandic spiders. Fjölrit Náttúrufræðistofnunar 31, 175 pages, 169 figures.
  
  
  

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