ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

July 2005. Ph.D. in Zoology. University of Barcelona.
September 1998. Master degree in Biology. Sofia University "Saint Climent Ohridsky". Sofia, Bulgaria.


OTHER DIPLOMAS AND COURSES

6 – 16 July 2004 Postgraduate course “Phylogeny and Genealogy of DNA: Reconstruction and Applications”. University of Barcelona. Barcelona, Spain.

2003 Diploma de Estudios Avanzados (Diploma of Advanced Studies). University of Barcelona. Barcelona, Spain.

1999 D.S.P.U. (Specialized Post-University Diploma) in environmental management. Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania. C.I.H.E.A.M. Crete. Greece.


RESEARCH EXPERIENCE AND APPOINTMENTS

Postdoctoral Researcher January 2010 - present: Program of Excellence in Macroecology and Evolution at the University of Copenhagen. Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen.

Adjunct Research Associate January 2010 - present: Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University.

Postdoctoral Researcher November 2007 - December 2009: Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University. Discovering and interpreting the diversity of life: The Challenge of Superabundant Data.

Postdoctoral Researcher September 2005 - November 2007: NSF-PEET project on Systematics and Monography of Araneoid Spiders.

Predoctoral
1999 - 2000 MAICh (C.I.H.E.A.M.) Research fellow in the frame of the DEMOS (Developing of a Monitoring System Based on Plant Ecophysiology) project. Project number ERBIC18CT970153.

2000 MAICh (C.I.H.E.A.M.) Collaboration in projects for integration of GIS with web servers (Apache and AOLserver). Installation and configuration of community based systems with database backend (OpenACS).

May - July 2004 Faculty of Biology. University of Barcelona. Collaboration in the project “Un enfoque jerárquico al estudio de la generación de la biodiversidad”.


PUBLICATIONS

Dimitrov D., Lopardo L., Giribet G., Arnedo M.A., Álvarez-Padilla F., Hormiga G. In press. Tangled in a sparse spider web: single origin of orb weavers and their spinning work unravelled by denser taxonomic sampling. Proceeding of the Royal Society B.

Giribet G., Sharma P., Benavides L., Boyer S.L., Clouse R., de Bivort B., Dimitrov D., Kawauchi G., Murienne J., Schwendinger P. 2012. Evolutionary and biogeographic history of the harvestman suborder Cyphophthalmi (Arachnida, Opiliones) — an ancient and global group of arachnids. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 105: 92-130. (doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2011.01774.x)

Dimitrov D., Hormiga G. 2011. An extraordinary new genus of spiders from Western Australia with an expanded hypothesis on the phylogeny of Tetragnathidae (Araneae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 161:735-768. (doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00662.x).

Dimitrov D., Hormiga G. 2010. Mr. Darwin’s mysterious spider: On the type species of the genus Leucauge White, 1841 (Tetragnathidae, Araneae). ZOOTAXA 2396:19–36.

Dimitrov D., Álvarez-Padilla F., Hormiga G. 2010. On the phylogenetic placement of the spider genus Atimiosa Simon, 1895 (Tetragnathidae, Araneae) and the circumscription of the genus Dolichognatha O.P.- Cambridge, 1869. American Museum Novitates 3683:1-19. PDF available via the AMNH research library

Dimitrov D., Benjamin S.P., Hormiga G. 2009. A revised phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus Clitaetra Simon, 1889 (Araneidae, Nephilidae) with the first description of the male of the Sri Lankan species Clitaetra thisbe Simon, 1903. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 159(6):301-323. (doi:10.3099/0027-4100-159.6.301)

Álvarez-Padilla F., Dimitrov D., Giribet G., Hormiga G. 2009. Phylogenetic relationships of the spider family Tetragnathidae (Araneae, Araneoidea) based on morphological and DNA sequence data. Cladistics 25:109-146. (doi:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2008.00242.x)

Dimitrov D., Hormiga G. 2009. Revision and cladistic analysis of the orbweaving spider genus Cyrtognatha Keyserling, 1881 (Araneae, Tetragnathidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 317:1-140. PDF available via the AMNH research library (very large file).

Benjamin S.P., Dimitrov D., Gillespie R.G., Hormiga G. 2008. Family ties: molecular phylogeny of crab spiders (Araneae: Thomisidae). Cladistics 24(5):708-722. (doi:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2008.00202.x)

Dimitrov D., Arnedo M.A., Ribera C. 2008. Colonization and diversification of the spider genus Pholcus Walckenaer, 1805 (Araneae, Pholcidae) in the Macaronesian archipelagoes: Evidence for long-term occupancy yet rapid recent speciation. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 48(2):596-614. (doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.04.027)

Dimitrov D., Álvarez-Padilla F., Hormiga G. 2008. Until dirt do us apart: on the unremarkable palp morphology of the spider Sternospina concretipalpis Schmidt & Krause, 1993, with comments on the genus Prionolaema Simon, 1894 (Araneae, Tetragnathidae).  ZOOTAXA 1698:49-56.

Dimitrov D., Ribera C. 2007. The genus Pholcus (Araneae, Pholcidae) in the Canary Islands. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 151:59-114.

Dimitrov D., Álvarez-Padilla F., Hormiga G. 2007. The female genitalic morphology of the orb weaving spider genus Agriognatha (Araneae, Tetragnathidae). Journal of Morphology 268:758-770.

Dimitrov D., Ribera C. 2006. Three new species of Pholcus (Araneae, Pholcidae) from the Canary Islands with notes on the genus Pholcus in the archipelago. Journal of Arachnology 34(1):126-134.

Dimitrov D., Ribera C. 2005a. Description of Ossinissa, a new pholcid genus from the Canary Islands (Araneae: Pholcidae). ZOOTAXA 982:1-13.

Dimitrov D., Ribera C. 2005b. Pholcus vachoni n. sp. (Araneae, Pholcidae) una nueva especies de Agadir (Marruecos). Revista Ibérica de Aracnología 11:3-6.

Borisova N., Antonova V., Delov V., Dimitrov D. 2005. Using GIS and remote sensing in biogeography assessment in the karst terrain of Chepan Mountain and Dragoman marshland (W Bulgaria). - In: Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Global Changes. (Chipev, N., Bogoev,V. Eds.), I-st National Conference in Ecology, Sofia, pp. 75-82.

Dimitrov D., Ribera C. 2003. Pholcus intricatus (Araneae, Pholcidae) una nueva especie endémica de Tenerife (Islas Canarias). Revista Ibérica de Aracnología 8:7-11.

Dimitrov D., Lazarov S. 2002. Contribution to the Study of Spiders (Araneae) in Chepun Mountain and Dragoman Swampland (NW Bulgaria). Acta zoologica bulgarica 54(2):47-53.


WEB PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES

Dimitrov, D. 2009. Key to the species of the genus Cyrtognatha Keyserling, 1881 (Araneae, Tetragnathidae). Review version 1.0. online at Key to the species of the genus Cyrtognatha Keyserling, 1881 (Araneae, Tetragnathidae)

Alvarez-Padilla, F., D. Dimitrov, and G. Hormiga. 2009. TetraGen: Tetragnathid Genera of the World (Araneoidea: Tetragnathidae), An Illustrated Catalog. Pre-release version 1.0. The George Washington University, online at http://www.gwu.edu/~spiders/tetragen/index.cfm

Dimitrov, Dimitar. 2009. Pholcidae. Daddy-longleg spiders. Version 12 February 2009 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Pholcidae/2719/2009.02.12 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

Dimitrov, Dimitar and Gustavo Hormiga. 2009. Tetragnathidae Menge 1866. Version 09 March 2009 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Tetragnathidae/2799/2009.03.09 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

Hormiga, G., D. Dimitrov, J.A. Miller, and F. Alvarez-Padilla. 2008. LinyGen: Linyphioid Genera of the World (Pimoidae and Linyphiidae), An Illustrated Catalog. Version 2.0. The George Washington University, online at http://www.gwu.edu/~linygen/index.cfm


Manuscripts in progress

Dimitrov D., Lopardo L., Hormiga G. Revision and cladistic analysis of the spider genus Maymena Simon, 1922 (Araneae, Mysmenidae).

Dimitrov D., Hormiga G. On the validity of the tetragnathid genera Antillognatha Bryant, 1945 and Hispanognatha Bryant, 1945 (Araneae, Tetragnathidae): phylogenetic revision based on morphological and molecular evidence.

Dimitrov D., Scharff N. A flower against the elements – past, present and future of the African violet.


MEETINGS PARTICIPATION

26th European Congress of Arachnology. Sede Boqer, Israel, 3-8 September 2011. Dimitrov D., Lopardo L., Giribet G., Arnedo M.A., Álvarez-Padilla F., Hormiga G. Oral presentation – “Of webs and wings: new insights on orbweaver evolution and its driving forces.”

Evolution 2011. Norman, Oklahoma, 17-22 June 2011. Dimitrov D., Nogués-Bravo D., Scharff N. Oral presentation – “A flower against the elements – past present and future of the African violet.”

IX Reunión Argentina de Cladística y Biogeografía. La Plata – Buenos Aires, Argentina 15-17 November 2010. Ramírez M. J., Labarque F. M., Piacentini L. N., Hormiga G., Dimitrov D., Benavides L., Arnedo M. A., Pons, J. Oral presentation - “Pancoding: estimaciones comparadas de eficiencia en la determinación de inventarios de biodiversidad utilizando combinaciones de morfología y códigos de barras del ADN.”

IX Reunión Argentina de Cladística y Biogeografía. La Plata – Buenos Aires, Argentina 15-17 November 2010. Labarque F. M., Piacentini L. N., Ramírez M. J., Hormiga G., Dimitrov D., Benavides L., Arnedo M. A. y Pons J. Oral presentation – “Pancoding: estimando patrones de biodiversidad utilizando códigos de barras del ADN.”

70th Anniversary Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 10–13 October 2010. Choiniere J., Dimitrov D., Anton-Fernandez C., Xing X., Clark J. Oral presentation - "Analysis of homology in serially repetitive morphological structures: the theropod digit problem."

18th International Congress of Arachnology. Siedlce, Poland, 11-17 July 2010. Dimitrov D., Lopardo L., Giribet G., Arnedo M.A., Álvarez-Padilla F., Hormiga G. Oral presentation - "Rounding up the usual suspects: molecular phylogeny of orb weaving spiders (Araneoidea)."

18th International Congress of Arachnology. Siedlce, Poland, 11-17 July 2010. Benavidez L., Dimitrov D., Hormiga G. Oral presentation - "Advances on the phylogeny of pirate spiders (Araneae: Mimetidae), a molecular approach."

18th International Congress of Arachnology. Siedlce, Poland, 11-17 July 2010. Hormiga G., Dimitrov D. Oral presentation - "Phylogeny of the spider family Pimoidae (Araneoidea)."

18th International Congress of Arachnology. Siedlce, Poland, 11-17 July 2010. Labarque F.M., Piacentini L.N., Ramírez M.J., Hormiga G., Dimitrov D., Benavidez L., Arnedo M.A., Pons J. Poster - "The use of DNA barcodes to assess the biodiversity patterns of megadiverse groups in tropical regions: the PANCODING project."

Evolution 2009. Moscow, Idaho, 12-16 June 2009. Dimitrov D., Lopardo L., Giribet G., Arnedo MA., Álvarez-Padilla F., Hormiga G. Oral presentation – “How many outgroups? The effect of taxonomic sampling on the phylogeny of araneoid spiders.”

II Congreso Latinoamericano de Aracnología / VI Encuentro de Aracnólogos del Cono Sur. Salta Capital, Argentina, 30 November – 4 December 2008. Labarque F.M., Piacentini L.N., Arnedo M.A., Hormiga G., Dimitrov D., Ramírez M.J. Oral presentation – “PANCODING: Primeros pasos para la obtención de una librería de códigos de barras de ADN de las arañas de Panamá.”

32nd Annual Meeting of the American Arachnological Society. Berkeley, California, 25–30 June 2008. Dimitrov D., Hormiga G. Oral presentation - "A new genus of tetragnathid spiders from Australia with an expanded phylogenetic hypothesis for the generic relationships of Tetragnathidae."

32nd Annual Meeting of the American Arachnological Society. Berkeley, California, 25–30 June 2008. Álvarez-Padilla F., Dimitrov D., Giribet G., Hormiga G. Oral presentation - "Phylogenetic relationships of the spider family Tetragnathidae (Araneae) based on morphological and DNA sequence data."

Jornadas de Biodiversidad Valenciana y Arácnidos & VIII Jornadas del Grupo Ibérico de Aracnología. Valencia, Spain, 25 - 28 October 2007. Arnedo MA., Macías-Hernández NE., Dimitrov D. Oral presentation - "Regreso al pasado: ¿qué nos enseñan las filogenias moleculares sobre la diversificación de los organismos?"

17th International Congress of Arachnology. São Pedro, São Paulo, Brazil, 5-10 August 2007. Dimitrov D., Hormiga G. Oral presentation – “Phylogenetic systematics of the neotropical spider genus Cyrtognatha Keyserling (Tetragnathidae, Araneae).”

PEET VI meeting “Reaching out”. Athens, Georgia, USA, 26-29, March 2007. Dimitrov D., Hormiga G. Poster –
“Taxonomic revision and phylogenetic analysis of the spider genus Cyrtognatha (Araneae, Tetragnathidae).”

XVIII International Symposium of Biospeleology. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 10-15 July 2006. Ribera C., Dimitrov D., Arnedo MA. Oral presentation - “Are troglobites relicts? New data on cave-dwelling spiders from the Canary Islands.”

Thirtieth annual meeting of the American Arachnological Society. Baltimore, USA, 17 - 21 June 2006. Dimitrov D., Hormiga G. Oral presentation – “Phylogenetic systematics of the spider genus Cyrtognatha (Araneae, Tetragnathidae).”

22nd European Colloquium of Arachnology. Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, 1 – 6 August 2005. Dimitrov D., Ribera C. Oral presentation - “Colonization and radiation of the genus Pholcus in Macaronesia”.

1st National Scientific Conference in Ecology. Varna, Bulgaria. - Borisova, N., Antonova, V., Delov, V., Dimitrov, D. 2004. “Using GIS and remote sensing in biogeography assessment in the karst terrain of Chepan Mountain and Dragoman marshland (W Bulgaria).”- (Abstracts). - 57-58

16th International Congress of Arachnology. Gent University, Belgium, 2-7 August 2004. Dimitrov D., Ribera C.
Oral presentation – “Phylogeny, Biogeography and Evolution of the genus Pholcus (Araneae,Pholcidae) in the Macaronesian archipelagoes.”

International Congress of Biodiversity and Arachnids. San Sebastián, Spain, 7-9 November 2003. Dimitrov D.,
Ribera C. Oral presentation – “Revisión taxonómica del género Pholcus (Araneae, Pholcidae) en las Islas Canarias.”

2nd Conferences of the Iberian Group of Arachnology. Barcelona, Spain, 6-8 September 2001. Dimitrov D. Oral presentation – “Un repaso a las investigaciones araneológicas en Bulgaria.”


GRANTS AND AWARDS

January 2010 - present - Postdoctoral fellowship provided by The Program of Excellence in Macroecology and Evolution at the University of Copenhagen.

November 2007 to December 2009 - Postdoctoral fellowship provided by Selective excellence grant from The George Washington University. "Discovering and interpreting the diversity of life: The Challenge of Superabundant Data".

June 2007 - Travel grant to attend the 17th Internation Congress of Arachnology.

September 2005 to November 2007 - Postdoctoral fellowship, funded by NSF-PEET: "Systematics and Monography of Araneoid Spiders”.

August 2004 - Travel grant form the Barcelona University to attend the 16th international Congress of Arachnology.

July 2004 - Scholarship from the Barcelona University to attend the Postgraduate course "Phylogeny and Genealogy of DNA: Reconstruction and Applications".

2001-2003 - Scholarship from the Division of Sciences of the Barcelona University.

1998-2000 - C.I.H.E.A.M. Scholarship for attending courses and working at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania.

1993–1998 - Scholarship from the Sofia University for achieving high grades (over 90% of the maximum).


MEMBERSHIP

Society of Systematic Biologists, International Society of Arachnology, American Arachnological Society, International Biogeography Society


TEACHING

Phylogenetic Systematics and Molecular Dating – January 2011, University of Copenhagen.

POY 4: phylogenetic analysis using dynamic homologies Workshop – January 2011, The George Washington University.


SYNERGISTIC ACTIVITIES

Scientific core contributor to the Tree of Life Web Project (http://tolweb.org). Responsible for the branches Pholcidae (http://tolweb.org/Pholcidae/2719) and Tetragnathidae (http://tolweb.org/Tetragnathidae/2799).

Training of visting scholars and doctoral and undergraduate students in theoretical and practical methods of phylogenetic systematics (e.g., SEM techniques and molecular laboratory, data mining and analyses methods relevant to systematics research).


COMMUNITY SERVICE

Review of manuscripts for: Biology Letters, BMC Evolutionary Biology, Bonner Zoologische Monographien, Entomologica Fennica, Entomological Research, Invertebrate Systematics, Journal of Natural History, Kansas Academy of Science Transactions, PLos ONE, Revista Ibérica de Aracnología, ZOOTAXA

2007 Team leader in the Rock Creek Park BioBlitz species inventory organized by the National Geographic.