Dr Chrissie Painting

Senior Lecturer
Qualifications: BSc Hons - Lincoln University, PhD University of Auckland
Personal Website: http://chrissiepainting.com
Research Interests
I’m a behavioural ecologist with a particular interest in what drives diversity in exaggerated animal traits, such as weapons and ornaments. This fits into a central goal of evolutionary biology which is to understand patterns in the variation of animal phenotypes. My research is primarily on arthropods including beetles, harvestmen and spiders, with a strong basis in natural history.
Research Supervised
PhD
- Connolly, Simon (in progress). Monogyny and introgression in New Zealand fishing spiders.
MSc (Research)
- Chapman, Brody (in progress). Invertebrate community responses to forest fragmentation
- Lambert, Michaela (in progress). The effect of population density on mating dynamics in New Zealand giraffe weevils.
- Mills, Lara (in progress). Personality and assessment strategies during contest behaviour of field crickets
- Fale, Grant (in progress). Effect of honey bee abundance on the foraging behaviour of New Zealand native bees
- Devenish, René (in progress). Exploring the energetic impacts of warming on pollinator behaviour and ecosystem functioning. (main supervisor: Andrew Barnes)
Teaching Commitments
Expertise
Animal Behaviour; Biology; Ecology
Behavioural Ecology; Evolution; Entomology; Sexual Selection
Recent Publications
Powell, E. C., Painting, C. J., Hickey, A. J., & Holwell, G. I. (2020). Defining an intrasexual male weapon polymorphism in a New Zealand harvestman (Opiliones: Neopilionidae) using traditional and geometric morphometrics. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 130(2), 395-409. doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blaa040
Harvey, J. A., Heinen, R., Armbrecht, I., Basset, Y., Baxter-Gilbert, J. H., Bezemer, T. M., . . . de Kroon, H. (2020). International scientists formulate a roadmap for insect conservation and recovery. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 4(2), 174-176. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-1079-8
O'Brien, D. M., Boisseau, R. P., Duell, M., McCullough, E., Powell, E. C., Somjee, U., . . . Emlen, D. J. (2019). Muscle mass drives cost in sexually selected arthropod weapons. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1905). doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.1063
Zeng, H., Wee, S. S. E., Painting, C. J., Zhang, S., & Li, D. (2019). Equivalent effect of UV coloration and vibratory signal on mating success in a jumping spider. Behavioral Ecology, 30(2), 313-321. doi:10.1093/beheco/ary167
Contact Details
Name |    | Extn. |    | Username |    | Room |    | Department |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Painting, Dr Chrissie | 9639 | cpaintin | R.2.20 | Ecology, Biodiversity and Animal Behaviour |
You can contact staff by:
- Calling +64 7 838 4466 select option 1, then enter the extension
- Extensions starting with 4, 5, 9 or 3 can also be direct dialled:
- For extensions starting with 4: dial +64 7 838 extension
- For extensions starting with 51 or 52: dial +64 7 858 extension
- For extensions starting with 53: dial +64 7 577 extension
- For extensions starting with 9: dial +64 7 837 extension
- For extensions starting with 3: dial +64 7 2620 + the last 3 digits of the extension  e.g. 3123 = +64 7 262 0123
- Emailing username@waikato.ac.nz
- Using the hamilton campus map to locate their room