In
December 2003 I was invited to give two talks at the meeting of
the Latin American arachnologists in São Paulo. After that, I
had
the chance to visit some Atlantic rainforest sites in São Paulo
State: Ubatuba, Paranapiacaba, Cantareira, and the forest at the Jardim
Zoologico. We had no particular species in mind we wanted to find, but
tried to collect any pholcids we could, especially into pure ethanol
for
an ongoing molecular study.
This
image shows a female deinopid, holding her modified orb web with her
front
legs. For me as a European it was special to see this wonderful
spider
alive in its habitat. I found it in São Paulo, in the forest
that
partly surrounds the city zoo. Our attention, however, was mostly
focused
on pholcids, and in one particular site, in a rainforest near Ubatuba,
we found 13 species, more than had even been found before
at a single locality. This broke our own record from the year before,
when we
collected 12 species in Yacambu National Park, Venezuela.
I
also had the opportunity to spend a few days looking at the spider
collection
in Butantan, São Paulo. I knew that there are numerous species
undescribed
in South America, but what I saw in Butantan was quite unbelievable.
Recent
intense collecting efforts have resulted in so many undescribed species
that I was left wondering who should ever make these known to
science. 
I
am most grateful to the organizers of the arachnological meeting for
their
invitation and for financing my visit to Brazil. In particular, I am
indebted
to Cristina Rheims for arranging the rainforest trips, to Antonio
Brescovit
for his invitation to study the Butantan collection, and to my
brother-in-law
for assistance in the field.Three publications have resulted entirely from this trip (Huber, Rheims & Brescovit 2005a, 2005b, Huber, Brescovit & Rheims 2005), others have partly profited from it or are in preparation.