Jacob Gorneau

Jacob A. Gorneau is a PhD working primarily on arachnid evolution and systematics in the context of museum-based biology and enjoys connecting these topics to recent (ecological) and geologic change. Regarding ecological change, he is exploring arthropod responses to mega wildfire and cattle grazing. With respect to geological change, he is studying the evolution of a scorpion genus Uroctonus, found in forested regions of the Western United States. He also works on the evolution of traits (e.g., behavior) using phylogenetic comparative methods.

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Admittance Semester/Year and Program

August 2023, PhD

Education

B.S. Entomology, Cornell University, 2020

M.S. Biology, Concentration in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, with a Certificate in Data Science, San Francisco State University, 2022

Research Lab

Elias Lab and EvoLab (Gillespie)

Selected Publications

• Gorneau, J.A.†, Montana, K.O.†, Gosnell, J.S., Crews, S.C., Xavier, C., Marta, K., Pantoja, P., Hannappel, M.P., Stiner, E., Jones, M., Mottershead, G.S, Cala-Riquelme, F., Esposito, L.A. 2025. If history is written by the victors, who describes the spiders? Species author trends reflect gender and geopolitical disparities in biodiversity science. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. † = co-first authorship. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaf067

• Montana, K.O., Cala-Riquelme, F., Crews, S.C., Gorneau, J.A., al-Jamal, A.M., alequín, l.d., Spagna, J.C., Ballarin, F., & Esposito, L.A. 2025. Tailor’s drawer no more: a reappraisal of the spider family Dictynidae O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1871 sensu lato. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf007

• Gorneau, J.A., Crews, S.C., Cala‑Riquelme, F., Montana, K.O., Spagna, J.C., Ballarin, F., Almeida‑Silva, L.M. and Esposito, L.A. 2023. Webs of intrigue: museum genomics elucidate relationships of the marronoid spider clade (Araneae). Insect Systematics and Diversity. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixad021

• Gorneau, J.A., Jones, L.D., Monzón-Sierra, J., & Dombroskie, J.J. 2023. Three new species of Argyresthia Hübner 1825 from Guatemala, with notes on host plant evolution and Nearctic taxa (Lepidoptera: Argyresthiidae). SHILAP Revista de Lepidopterología. https://doi.org/10.57065/shilap.444

• Gorneau, J.A., Kulkarni, S., Cala‑Riquelme, F., Esposito, L.A. 2023. Measuring What We Don’t Know: Biodiversity Catalogs Reveal Bias in Taxonomic Effort. BioScience. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biac116

• Gorneau, J.A., Rheims, C.A., Moreau, C.S., & Rayor, L.S. 2022. Huntsman spider phylogeny informs evolution of life history, egg sacs, and morphology. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790322001439

Selected Presentations

• Gorneau, J.A., Martinez, D., Jain, P., al-Jamal, A.M., Hannappel, M.P., Crews, S.C., Graham, N.R., Elias, D.O., Gillespie, R.G., Esposito, L.A. Time-scale trends in leaf litter biodiversity following megafires in California. Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting. Portland, OR. Invited Presentation. 2025.

• Gorneau, J.A., Montana, K.O., Phan, D., Gillespie, R.G., Elias, D.O., Esposito, L.A. Progress on the genomics of Uroctonus (Scorpiones). American Arachnological Society Annual Meeting. Golden, CO. Invited Presentation. 2025.

• Gorneau, J.A., Crews, S.C., Cala‐Riquelme, F., Montana, K., Esposito, L.A. Webs of intrigue: museum genomics elucidate relationships of the marronoid spiders (Araneae). Joint Annual Entomology Meeting, Montevideo, Uruguay. 2023.

• Gorneau, J.A., Crews, S.C., Cala-Riquelme, F., Kulkarni, S., Montana, K., Esposito, L.A. Webs of intrigue: museum genomics elucidate relationships of the marronoid spiders (Araneae). Joint Annual Entomology Meeting, Vancouver, Canada. 2022.

• Gorneau, J.A., Kulkarni, S., Cala‐Riquelme, F., Esposito, L.A. Biodiversity catalogs reveal taxonomic effort and geographic bias: a case study. SACNAS National Diversity in STEM, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA. 2022.