Despite more than a century of biodiversity cataloguing and research in Hong Kong, spiders remain one of the most overlooked and understudied groups.  Even within the territory, spiders are remarkably taxonomically and functionally diverse. They can be found in all terrestrial and even coastal habitats, where numerous species have appearances almost beyond comprehension reside, some of which are specifically linked to the behaviours that they perform.

In the past decade there has been an increase in awareness and interest towards spiders in Hong Kong, and we are beginning to learn more and more about our eight-legged neighbours in our urban jungle.
 
Marco Chan is from Hong Kong and is presently pursuing a MPhil at the University of Hong Kong.  He focusses on the taxonomy of the hyperdiverse ant genus Strumigenys in Southeast Asia and mapping the global distribution of the tramp species within the genus. Marco is also an expert on the taxonomy of spiders in Hong Kong and is part of a research group called ISLANDS with the goal to identify all spiders in Hong Kong, including describing species new to science.  ISLANDS also provides educational programmes for the general public, co-organised with numerous NGOs. In 2024, Marco won the Hong Kong Young Geographer of the Year.

The Royal Geographical Society - Hong Kong wishes to express its thanks to
Hill Dickinson as the Venue Sponsor of this talk.
 

Members of the RGS, their guests and others are most welcome to attend this event, which is HK$200 for RGS Members and HK$250 for guests and others.  This talk is free of charge for student members. 

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The opinions expressed in this event are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of the Royal Geographical Society - Hong Kong.