Shlomi Aharon

is a PhD student at the National Arachnid Collection, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, under the guidance of Dr Efrat Gavish-Regev and Prof. Dror Hawlena. His research focuses on the phylogeny, taxonomy, and ecology of cave spiders, especially on the exceptional speciation of troglobitic spiders and arachnid evolution. He explores how environmental and ecological factors drive evolutionary processes in subterranean ecosystems, focusing on caves as unique natural laboratories. By integrating molecular and morphological approaches, his research highlights caves as key habitats for studying biodiversity and evolutionary mechanisms, while contributing to the understanding of arachnid diversity in Israel and the Middle East.