Dr. Stanislav (Stas) Volynchik is a preparator and taxidermist at the Steinhardt Museum. Born in Kurgan, Southern Transuralia, Russia, Stas has been interested in animals, especially reptiles, since childhood. In 2002, he defended his dissertation on the “Ecology of snakes (Serpentes) of Southern Transuralia” at Surgut State University. At Kurgan State University he studied life history traits, including distribution, density, composition, dynamics of populations, and diet and reproduction of two local snake species, Vipera berus and Natrix natrix. In 2003, Stas and his family repatriated to Israel, and since 2005 he has been working at Tel Aviv University. He was first a researcher at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, studying the micromorphology of the hornet cuticle, the thermogenic center of the Oriental hornet, and other species of Hymenoptera. His other research topics include the ecology of the social wasps (Vespa orientalis): their flight activity and its dependence on meteorological conditions, behavior, and polyethism in the nest.

Stas started at the Steinhardt Museum in 2010. In addition to preparation and working with the vertebrate collection, he continues his herpetological studies. His research interests include the ecology and external morphology of reptiles, especially snakes; intraspecific variability in the Viperidae and other snakes; the appearance of sexual dimorphism in snakes; and environment–morphology relationships in reptiles.