Wanda Wesołowska

Wanda Wesołowska (née Nowysz) was born on 11 August 1950 in Włocławek, Poland. As a young child she lived in Szczecin and, in 1968, she started studying biology at the Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences in Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.[1] Her original interest was ornithology. She achieved her MSc in Biology for her work Obserwacje ptaków wodno-błotnych zbiornika zaporowego na Wiśle pod Włocławkiem w okresie wędrówek (Observations of Wetland Birds on a Dam Reservoir on the Vistula River in Wloclawek during Migration), which was published in Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia in 1973.[2]

After graduating, Wesołowska took a role at what is now the University of Natural Sciences and Humanities (then Wyższa Szkoła Pedagogiczno-Rolnicza) in Siedlce, where she developed her lifelong interest in the jumping spider family (Salticidae). She stayed at Siedlce from 1973 until moving to the University of Wroclaw in 1978 to start her doctoral study. She published her first paper on jumping spiders while at Siedlce, which included descriptions of nine new species, including Euophrys pygmaea and Icius parvus, which were both later moved to the genus Phintella, and Plexippoides regius.[3]

Wesołowska achieved a doctorate in natural sciences in 1984, with a thesis looking at the genus Heliophanus. In the work, she described 109 species, of which 44 were new. She was awarded a prize by the Ministry of Science and High Education of Poland for her work.[1] She was successively an Assistant, Assistant Professor and Associate Professor at the University. She was awarded Habilitation on the basis of her work A Revision of the Spider Genus Menemerus in Africa (Araneae: Salticidae), published in the Genus, and in 2009 was made a Professor of the institution.[4]

Most of Wesołowska's research covers the taxonomy, characteristics, behaviour and zoogeography of jumping spiders. Much of her work has involved work in Africa. She is author or co-author of half of all South African jumping spider species.[5] She completed revisions of the taxonomy of African species in various jumping spider genera, including Heliophanus, in 1986, Menemerus, in 1999, Mexcala, in 2009, Pochytoides, in 2018, Pachyballus and Peplometus in 2020, and undertook studies of spiders that mimic ants and beetles.[6] She was particularly noted for her collaborations, working with 24 other scientists from countries from Austria to Zimbabwe. She retired in October 2020.[7]

Wesołowska was a member of the African Arachnological Society, the International Society of Arachnology, Polskie Towarzystwo Taksonomiczne and Polskie Towarzystwo Zoologiczne.[8] In 2020, she was awarded the Lawrence Certificate of Merit in 2020 by the African Arachnological Society for her contributions to the study of African spiders.[5]

Wikispecies has information related to Wanda Wesołowska.

Wesołowska is the author and co-author of over 120 works. As of January 2023, according to the World Spider Catalog, Wesołowska is responsible for naming 572 species and 40 genera.[9] No other contemporary figure has described more new species and genera of jumping spiders. Only Eugène Simon, who described over 1000 species and 200 genera, has more to his name.[6]

In recognition of her endeavours in the field, two genera of jumping spiders, Wandawe and Wesolowskana, have been dedicated to Wesołowska.[10][11]

The following species of jumping spiders have also been named after her:

• Atomosphyrus wandae Bustamante & Ruiz, 2020[12]
• Eburneana wandae Szűts, 2003 [13]
• Heliophanus wesolowskae Rakov & Logunov, 1997[14]
• Marma wesolowskae Salgado & Ruiz, 2020[15]
• Neaetha wesolowskae Żabka & Patoleta, 2020[16]
• Padilla wandae Azarkina & Haddad, 2020[17]
• Pancorius wesolowskae Wang & Wang, 2020[18]
• Parahelpis wandaePatoleta & Żabka, 2020[19]
• Peckhamia wesolowskae Cala-Riquelme, Bustamante, Crews & Cutler, 2020 [20]
• Plexippus wesolowskae Biswas & Raychaudhuri, 1998[21]
• Proszynellus wandae Patoleta & Żabka, 2015[22]
• Pseudicius wesolowskae Zhu & Song, 2001[21]
• Rhenefictus wandae (Wang & Li, 2021)[23][24]
• Stenaelurillus wandae Logunov, 2020[25]
• Thyenula wesolowskae Zhang & Maddison, 2012[26]
• Zodarion wesolowskae Bosmans & Benhalima, 2020[27]

Some of these, including Stenaelurillus wandae, were specifically named in honour of her 70th birthday.[25]

She has also been honoured in the names other spiders. The list includes the species Cybaeota wesolowskae, two species of ant spiders, Ranops wandae and Zodarion wesolowskae, the crab spider Parabomis wandae, the crevice weaver Sahastata wesolowskae and the long-jawed orb weaver Diphya wesolowskae.[28]