I am an arachnologist with research interests focused primarily on the taxonomy and systematics of the family Theraphosidae. My specialism is in Central and South American taxa. I am also experienced in museum specimen curation, digitisation, preservation and collections-based research. Voluntary Assistant Curator (Arachnida), Natural History Museum, London; Research Associate, Arachnology Research Association (alongside the inimitable @sjl197 and @raygabriel); United Kingdom Coordinator, World Spider Catalog.

Selected recent publications:

Gabriel, R., Sherwood, D. 2019. The revised taxonomic placement of some arboreal Ornithoctoninae Pocock, 1895 with description of a new species of Omothymus Thorell, 1891 (Araneae: Theraphosidae). Arachnology 18(2): 137–147.

Pérez-Miles, F., Gabriel, R., Sherwood, D. 2019. Neischnocolus Petrunkevitch, 1925, senior synonym of Ami Pérez-Miles, 2008 and Barropelma Chamberlin, 1940 (Araneae: Theraphosidae). Arachnology 18(2): 150–155.

Sherwood, D. 2019. Aphonopelma braunshausenii Tesmoingt, 1996 is a nomen dubium, with review of some historic morphological characters ineffective at species delineation (Araneae: Theraphosidae). Zootaxa 4657(3): 573–580.

Sherwood, D. Gabriel, R. 2019. The first records of Holothele longipes (L. Koch, 1875) from Guyana and Panama (Araneae: Theraphosidae). Arachnology 18(3): 280–283.

Sherwood, D. Gabriel, R. 2020. Lectotype designation for the selenocosmiine spider Chilobrachys tschankhoensis Schenkel, 1963 with notes on its taxonomic placement (Araneae: Theraphosidae). Arachnida – Rivista Aracnologica Italiana 26: 33–38.

Gabriel, R. & Sherwood, D. 2020. Revised taxonomic placement of some Mesoamerican Psalmopoeus Pocock, 1895, with description of three new species (Araneae: Theraphosidae). Arachnology 18(4): 387–398.

Sherwood, D., Fabiano-da-Silva, W., Gabriel, R. & Lucas, S. M. 2020. Redescription of Nesipelma insulare Schmidt & Kovařík, 1996 with a revised generic diagnosis for Nesipelma Schmidt & Kovařík, 1996 and a transfer from Cyrtopholis Simon, 1892 (Araneae: Theraphosidae). Arachnology 18(5): 462–467.