ExpeTins

The nickname “ExpeTins” — short for Expedição Tocantins — was coined informally during the trip and simply stuck. No symbolic meaning, no clever metaphor: just a quick name for a field campaign across Tocantins and Goiás. We set out to collect arachnids & co., and that’s exactly what we did — through mud, sand, heat, and a few questionable accommodations.

The "ExpeTins" expedition was conducted in June 2007 across Tocantins and southern Goiás states, representing one of the most comprehensive arachnological surveys of Brazil's cerrado biome to date. The expedition focused on documenting the largely unknown arachnid diversity across this vast tropical savanna ecosystem, from cave systems to gallery forests to open grasslands.

Led by A.B. Kury, the field team included A. Chagas, A. Giupponi, and A. Pérez, combining expertise in opilionid systematics, spider taxonomy, and general arachnology. The expedition covered seventeen distinct collecting points across diverse cerrado microhabitats, from the limestone caves of Lagoa da Confusão to the sand dunes of Jalapão.

The PARES do Jalapão and surrounding protected areas provided exceptional collecting opportunities, yielding numerous endemic species and significant range extensions. This expedition fundamentally expanded our understanding of cerrado arachnid biogeography and contributed valuable specimens to ongoing phylogenetic studies of Neotropical opilionids and spiders.