Daniele Polotow traveled to Germany in search of equipment capable of conducting 3D tomography on miniscule components of her topic of research, spiders, before learning that the CNPEM has the same technology: CT scan or X-ray using the Microtomograph Skyscan 1272. Daniele works with the taxonomy of neotropical spiders in family Ctenidae, commonly known as wandering spiders. She is currently focusing on analyzing a peculiar evolutionary characteristic in adult males in various species: an s-shaped fourth leg. Her goal is to discover what conditions permit the perpetuation of this characteristic in these groups of spiders and what else it may represent. “Minute analyses of plant and animal species form the base of complex research.”

Facility: Nanostructure materials laboratory