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Cielo Disla ’25

Major: Biology with a secondary education certification
Project: Systematic Revisions of Harvestmen (Opiliones: Cosmetidae) from the Caribbean Islands
Advisor: Daniel N. Proud, assistant professor of biological sciences

An unexpected discovery defined Cielo Disla’s research with Opiliones, an arachnid order known more commonly as daddy longlegs, or harvestmen. Her work extracting DNA from specimens collected from several islands in the Caribbean yielded astonishing results: Disla and her advisor, Daniel Proud, assistant professor of biological sciences, identified a new genus, including at least two new species, hailing from Puerto Rico.

Disla and Proud are some of the first researchers to collect molecular data and photograph Opiliones, specifically the family Cosmetidae, in the Caribbean islands. The information that Disla extracted from the samples was used to create a phylogenetic tree analysis and, more broadly, to identify morphological characteristics that can serve as distinguishing factors while organizing species into genera. The aim of this project, however, goes beyond just enhancing general knowledge of Cosmetidae species distribution.

“This research provides resources for nonexperts to identify species,” Disla explains, citing photos and DNA barcodes as tools that can be made accessible to the general public. “It encourages citizen science.”

Disla emphasizes that her advisor’s enthusiasm greatly bolstered her success with the project. “Although [Dr. Proud] was very supportive and very involved, he still made sure that I was getting the full experience of conducting research and actively engaging with the work by stepping back and letting me be at the forefront of the research,” Disla says, sharing that her greatest challenge was understanding unfamiliar concepts, including creating and reading nucleotide sequences.

“Dr. Proud helped me walk through and understand those concepts,” she continues. “He made a great insight . . . [that] we are capable of doing research as long as we are willing to learn, ask questions, and adapt to various situations.”

The next steps of the project include expanding its analysis to include data from more Caribbean islands. Disla’s initial vision of this research included collecting data from her home country, the Dominican Republic, a process she hopes to accomplish next.

Disla and Proud presented their research at the American Arachnological Society’s annual conference in June of 2023.