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Franco Cargnelutti


franco.ignacio-cargnelutti@zrc-sazu.si



My research encompasses two main areas. First, I investigate reproductive behavior and strategies from a sexual selection perspective, examining how post-copulatory mechanisms—such as cryptic female choice and sperm competition—shape these traits.

My second line of research centers on environmental impacts, specifically aiming to elucidate how aquatic pesticide contamination affects the biological fitness of riparian predators. I am currently developing this line of research as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Jovan Hadži Institute of Biology (BIJH) – ZRC SAZU. While traditional risk assessments often focus on lethal toxicity, my work explores the critical impact of sublethal pesticide levels. I integrate innovative fitness indicators, emphasizing sexual behavior and gametic traits in both sexes, to provide a nuanced look at how pollutants disrupt the reproductive success and long-term survival of riparian species.

To address these questions, my research primarily utilizes arachnids as model organisms, with a focus on spiders. Furthermore, I am a co-founder of the Latin American Network of Emerging Arachnology (RAEL - Red de Aracnología Emergente Latina), a society dedicated to promoting and fostering arachnological studies among young Latin American researchers.

Papers

  • 1) Vrech DE*, Cargnelutti F*, Oviedo-Diego M*, Peretti AV. A Tale of Two Camel Spiders: Divergence in Sperm Parameters in Two Neotropical Solifuge Species with Contrasting Mating Systems. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. In Press. (*These authors contributed equally to this work and should be considered first authors).
  • 2) Calbacho-Rosa L*, Cargnelutti F*, Hebets EA, Palen-Pietri R, Peretti AV (2025). Guarded encounters: how post-copulatory contact leads to mate recognition in spiders. Animal Behaviour, 223,123449. DOI:10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123449 (*These authors contributed equally to this work and should be considered first authors)
  • 3) Calbacho-Rosa L*, Cunningham M*, Cargnelutti F*, García CF, Peretti AV (2025). Reproductive investment in spiders: how female condition and oviposition timing influence egg sac quality. Journal of Insect Physiology, 104869. DOI:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2025.104869 (*These authors contributed equally to this work and should be considered first authors).
  • 4) Kralj-Fišer S, Daiqin L, Cargnelutti F, Kutner M (2025). Unravelling evolutionary dynamics of female sexual cannibalism and male reproductive strategies in spiders. Integrative Zoology. DOI:10.1111/1749-4877.13027
  • 5) Kundu P, Oviedo-Diego M, Cargnelutti F, Jones RR, Garcia E, Hebets EA, Gaffin DD. Electrophysiological and behavioral responses of elongate solifuge sensilla to air particle movement and air pressure stimuli (2024). Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 211(3), 277-292. DOI:10.1007/s00359-025-01731-y
  • 6) Hebets EA, Oviedo-Diego M*, Cargnelutti F*, Bollatti F, Calbacho-Rosa L, Mattoni CI, Olivero P, Simian C, Abregú D, Vrech DE, Peretti AV (2023). A scientist's guide to Solifugae: How solifuges could advance research in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 202(2), zlad174. DOI:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad174 (*These authors contributed equally to this work).
  • 7) Cargnelutti F, Castillo-Pérez EU, Reyes-Ramírez A, Rocha-Ortega M, Córdoba-Aguilar A (2023). Copulatory courtship, body temperature and infection in Tenebrio molitor. PLoS ONE, 18, e0291384. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0291384
  • 8) Izquierdo MA, Dederich T, Cargnelutti F, Michalik P (2023). Copulatory behaviour and genital mechanics suggest sperm allocation by a non-intromittent sclerite in a pholcid spider. Royal Society Open Science, 10: 230263. DOI:10.1098/rsos.230263
  • 9) Cargnelutti F, Bollatti F, Izquierdo MA, Ábregu D, Oviedo-Diego M, Vrech DE, Olivero P, Calbacho-Rosa L, Simian C, Palen-Pietri R, Mattoni CI, Peretti AV (2023). Waking beauties: mating quiescence in arachnid females. Advances in the Study of Behavior, 55: 55-159. DOI:10.1016/bs.asb.2023.03.001
  • 10) Castillo-Pérez EU, Cargnelutti F, Reyes-Ramírez A, Rocha-Ortega M, Córdoba-Aguilar A (2022). When is a male too hot? Fitness outcomes when mating with high temperature, sick males. Journal of Thermal Biology, 105: 103222 DOI:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2022.103222
  • 11) Cargnelutti F, Bollatti F, Izquierdo MA, Castanheira P de S, Baptista RLB, Barrantes G, Aisenberg A (2022). Together but not intertwined: differences in sexual behavior between two sympatric and synchronized spider species, including one new synonymy (Araneae, Tetragnathidae, Tetragnatha). The Journal of Arachnology, 50: 67-80. DOI:10.1636/JoA-S-21-006
  • 12) Cargnelutti F, Calbacho‐Rosa L, Córdoba‐Aguilar A, Peretti AV (2022). Successive matings affects copulatory courtship but not sperm transfer in a spider model. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 135:299-309. DOI:10.1093/biolinnean/blab157
  • 13) Cargnelutti F, Reyes-Ramirez A, Cristancho S, Sandoval-García IA, Rocha-Ortega M, Calbacho-Rosa L, Palacino F, Córdoba-Aguilar A (2021). Condition-Dependent male copulatory courtship and its benefits for females. Ecology & Evolution, 11: 9848-9855. DOI:10.1002/ece3.7815
  • 14) Cargnelutti F, Calbacho‐Rosa L, Peretti AV (2021). Genital movements are not restricted to spermatozoa transfer in a haplogyne spider. Ethology, 127: 731-738. DOI:10.1111/eth.13309
  • 15) Cargnelutti F, Calbacho-Rosa L, Costa-Schmidt L, Uñates D, Córdoba-Aguilar A & Peretti AV (2020). Copulatory behaviour increases sperm viability in female spiders. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 131: 536–546. DOI:10.1093/biolinnean/blaa130
  • 16) Albin A, Simo M, Cargnelutti F, Aisenberg A & Calbacho-Rosa L (2020). Sex and burrowing behavior and their implications with lytic activity in the sand-dwelling spider Allocosa senex. The Science of Nature, 107: 1–8. DOI:10.1007/s00359-025-01731-y
  • 17) Calbacho-Rosa L, Cargnelutti F, Peretti AV & Costa-Schmidt L (2019). Female secondary sexual traits in spiders: adaptive interpretations of the sternum projection in the pholcid Holocnemus pluchei. Zoology, 136: 125694. DOI:10.1016/j.zool.2019.125694
  • 18) Calbacho-Rosa L, Cargnelutti F, Córdoba-Aguilar A & Peretti AV (2019). Consistency of females' stridulatory behaviour during inter-sexual interactions in spiders. Ethology, 125: 548–554. DOI:10.1111/eth.12880
  • 19) Cargnelutti F, Uñates D, Vrech DE, Bollatti F, Calbacho-Rosa L, Córdoba-Aguilar A & Peretti AV (2019). Sperm viability in spiders: a first approach using Holocnemus pluchei (Scopoli, 1763) (Synspermiata: Pholcidae). The Journal of Arachnology, 47: 52–56. DOI:10.1636/0161-8202-47.1.52
  • 20) Cargnelutti F, Calbacho-Rosa L, Córdoba-Aguilar A & Peretti AV (2018). Patterns of sperm transfer behavior in a pholcid spider with two distinct copulatory phases. Journal of Insect Behavior, 31: 616–628. DOI:10.1007/s10905-018-9702-0

 

Book chapters

  • 1) Henaut Y, Lucio-Palacio CR, Cargnelutti F (2023). Arachnids at the Edge: View and Perspectives, with Emphasis on Spiders and Scorpions. In: Insect Decline and Conservation in the Neotropics (Jorge León Cortés & Alex Córdoba-Aguilar, eds). Springer. Cham. pp 303–350. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-49255-6_4
  • 2) Costa-Schmidt LE, Albo MJ, Bollatti F, Cargnelutti F, Calbacho-Rosa L, Copperi S, Ferretti N, Izquierdo M, Peretti AV (2017). Sexual selection in neotropical spiders: examples from selected groups. In: Behaviour and Ecology of Spiders: Contributions from the neotropical region (Carmen Viera & Marcelo Gonzaga, eds). Springer. Cham. pp 303–350. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-65717-2_12