Congratulations to Simon, who recently won a $4000 Sparling Travel Award to take a long-awaited trip to Germany next month. While there, Simon will present his research at the European Congress of Arachnology, then spend some time in Prof Peter Michalik’s lab at the University of Greifswald. In Peter’s lab Simon will learn how to create 3D models of spider palps (male genitalia) that he has recently been prepping for by scanning the spiders using a micro-CT machine. Once back in New Zealand, Simon will use these models to conduct geometric morphometric analyses, to understand how genital shape may limit or allow introgression (transfer of genes) between two co-existing species of fishing spiders.