Norman Ira Platnick (December 30, 1951 – April 8, 2020) was an American biological systematist andarachnologist.[1] At the time of his death, he was aprofessoremeritus of theRichard Gilder Graduate School and Peter J. Solomon Family Curator Emeritus of the invertebrate zoology department of theAmerican Museum of Natural History. A 1973 Ph.D. recipient atHarvard University, Platnick described over 1,800 species ofspiders from around the world, making him the second most prolific spider taxonomist in history, behind onlyEugène Simon.[2] Until 2014 he was also the maintainer of theWorld Spider Catalog, a website formerly hosted by the AMNH which tracks the arachnology literature, and attempts to maintain a comprehensive list, sorted taxonomically, of every species of spider which has been formally described. In 2007 he received theInternational Society of Arachnology's Bonnet award, named forPierre Bonnet, in recognition of his work on the catalog.[3]
Platnick was recognized as a world leader inspider taxonomy. Dr.Quentin D. Wheeler stated "He is the best arachnologist of his generation, has published more monographs and nomenclatural contributions than anyone, period."[1] Platnick was one of the founding members of theWilli Hennig Society and its fourth President (1991–1992). His contributions to theoretical cladistics, such as his 1981 book, Systematics and Biogeography: Cladistics and Vicariance[4] (coauthored withGareth Nelson), are also highly regarded.
Platnick's later undertaking involved the goblin spiders ofOonopidae as a part of thePlanetary Biodiversity Inventory, a project which includes scientific institutions from across the world.[5] There are currently about 1,600 recorded species in 114 genera,[6] but estimates have been placed as high as 2,500;[7] the project aims to flesh out the recorded species list and gain a more exact picture of the family'sPhylogeny throughDNA analysis.
Platnick died April 8, 2020, of complications following a fall.[8][9] He is commemorated in the names of 8 genera and over 50 species of invertebrates.[10]
Platnick, N.I. (1973): A Revision of the North American Spiders of the Family Anyphaenidae. Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University.
Gertsch, Willis J. &Platnick, N.I. (1979): A revision of the spider family Mecicobothriidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae)."American Museum Novitates2687Abstract, PDF
Nelson, G. J. &Platnick, N. I. (1981):Systematics and biogeography: cladistics and vicariance. Columbia University Press, New York. 567 pp.
Platnick, N. I. (1990): Spinneret Morphology and the Phylogeny of Ground Spiders (Araneae, Gnaphosoidea).American Museum Novitates2978: 1–42.PDF (33Mb)
Platnick, N. I.,Coddington, J.A.,Forster, R.R., andGriswold, C.E. (1991): Spinneret Morphology and the Phylogeny of Haplogyne Spiders (Araneae, Araneomorphae).American Museum Novitates3016: 1–73.PDF (50Mb)
Platnick, N. I. (1998): Advances in Spider Taxonomy 1992–1995, with Redescriptions 1940–1980.New York Entomological Society 976 pp.
Griswold, C. E.,Coddington, J.A.,Platnick, N.I. &Forster, R.R. (1999): Towards a Phylogeny of Entelegyne Spiders (Araneae, Araneomorphae, Entelegynae).Journal of Arachnology27: 53–63.PDFArchived February 11, 2006, at theWayback Machine
Platnick, N.I. (2000): A Relimitation and Revision of the Australasian Ground Spider Family Lamponidae (Araneae: Gnaphosoidea).Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History245: 1–330.Web version –Abstract, PDF
Platnick, N.I. (2020): Spiders of the World. A Natural History Edited by PlatnickPrinceton University Press
