|
Anker,
Authur Alekseev,
V. R.
Amoroso,
Victor
Bahir,
Mohomed
Benayahu,
Y.
Brook, Barry
Chen
Hui-Lian
Corlett,
Richard
Das,
Indraneil
Davie,
Peter
de
Pinna, M.
Diesmos,
Arvin
Dominy,
N.
Fernando,
C.H.
Grootaert, P.
Guinot,
Daniele
Jayne,
Bruce
Karns,
Daryl
Kottelat,
Maurice
Kunimatsu, Y.
Larson,
Helen
Lheknim,
V.
Liao,
Lawrence
Liu
Riu-Yu
Panha,
Somsa
Pollard,
Simon
Rachmatika,
Ike
Rahayu,
D. L.
Schubart,
C.
Huei-Ping
Shen
Siebert,
Darrell
Song
Daxiong
Voris,
Harold
Wu
Sugong
Wasim Ahmad
Zettel,
Herbert
Email: denlit@post.tau.a
RMBR Visiting Fellow No 2
July 1999
Host: A/P L. M. Chou
Prof. Benayahu is a specialist in the taxonomy
and reproductive biology and ecology of soft corals, a topic which
has occupied his time since 1972. During his three-week stay in
Singapore, Prof. Benayahu was engaged in research into the biodiversity
of the soft corals of Singapore and the use of artificial reefs
for the biorehabilitation of disturbed coastal areas.
Prof. Benayahu was taken on five dive trips
during his stay here which yielded a fairly large collection of
mainly soft coral specimens, including five possible new records
for Singapore and a species possibly new to science.
51 soft corals collected by the Marine Biology
Laboratory (partly in 1992-94 material from an antifouling project
No. GR6152) and 30 voucher specimens from the Bioscience Centre
Sample Collection have been loaned to Prof Benayahu for his research.
Prof. Benayahu also gave a seminar entitled "Soft
Corals-Biological and Ecological Features." at the Department
of Biological Sciences conference room on Monday, the 19th of
July.
[top]
Department of Zoology
Universidade de Sao Paulo, BRASIL
Email: pinna@ib.usp.br
RMBR Short-term Visiting Fellow No 4
Oct- Nov 1999
Host: A/Prof Peter Ng
Research interests: Taxonomy & systematics
of catfishes
Mario works in the field of catfish systematics,
and also studies higher relationships of fishes, particularly
clupeomorphs.
He completed his PhD with the City University
of New York/American Museum of Natural History in 1992, and then
was a post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington
and later the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Presently
with the Department of Zoology at Universidade de Sao Paulo, he
will return as staff of the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade
de Sao Paulo (MZUSP).
During his fellowship here he worked on the phylogeny
of a genus of small torrent catfishes endemic to Southeast Asia
called Akysis. Mario and postgraduate student Ng Heok Hee (NUS)
have confirmed that Akysis as currently understood consists of
two distinct lineages, one of which will be named as a new genus.
Another project he is working on with local researchers
is the description of a new genus of torrent catfish of the family
Erethistidae from India.
While in Singapore, he also undertook field work
in Nee Soon, Mandai, Malaysia (Kahang) and Indonesia (Jambi).
An exchange program had been initiated between the MZUSP
and the RMBR, and he brought several lots of South American freshwater
fishes for exchange with more to come when he returns. In
return, he is going to carry with him about 100 fish specimens
(mostly catfishes and clupeomorphs) from this part of the world.
He gave a lecture to third-year students in
the Evolutionary Biology course, a department seminar on South
American Vampire Catfishes (Family Trichomycteridae), of which
he is an authority. He also conducted a workshop on fish osteology
in systematic studies for RMBR staff and postgraduate students.
[top]
R&D Center for Oceanology, Jakarta
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI)
RMBR 3rd Visiting Fellow
August-October 1999
Host: A/Prof Peter K. L. Ng
Dr. Rahayu or 'Yoyo' as she is better known as,
was previously from LIPI's R&D Center for Oceanology in Ambon.
She was in Singapore here a little earlier than expected
- she was evacuated from her Ambon office in July due to the riots
there. Left with very little of her research material to work
with after the transfer to the Jakarta office, she arranged for
her fellowship in Singapore to begin earlier!
She received her PhD from Université Pierre &
Marie Curie, Paris VI (formerly part of Sorbonne University),
Paris, France in 1992. There she working on the taxonomy of hermit
crabs under the supervision of Dr Jacques Forest. One of the most
common and colourful hermit crabs in our mangroves, Clibanarius
serenei is in fact, a species described by Yoyo and her supervisor
in 1993. This time, her visit went beyond hermit crabs and focuses
on a much larger group, the Brachyuran crabs. She began
by working in Singapore on LIPI's Indonesian collection
of Majiid crabs (Spider crabs) and Parthenopid crabs in collaboration
with Peter Ng.
From 1st November 1999 to the 30th of October
2001, she will be conducting an environment impact assesment of
the Aikwa river mangroves for the Environment Department of the
Freeport Mining Company at Timika, Irian Jaya, before returning
to her post in Jakarta.
In preparation, she studied the mangrove brachyuran
fauna in Sngapore, visited the mangroves of Sungei Mandai Besar,
Sungei Mandai Kechil, Sungei Buloh (Singapore), and Sungei Benut
(Johor) to make a reference collection for this work. Her collaboration
with the RMBR will continue during this phase of work and some
staff will be visiting her and the mangroves there in Irian Jaya.
Descriptions of two new species of hermit crabs
of the genus Clibanarius (Curstacea: Decapoda: Anomura:
Diogenidae) from Indonesia.
On new records of Spider Crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda:
Brachyura: Majidae) from Indonesia. (with Peter Ng).
On a small collection of Parthenopidae (Crustacea:
Decapoda: Brachyura) from Indonesia, with a description of a new
specis of Pseuolambrus. (with Peter Ng).
[top]
Institute of Zoology, China Academy of Science,
& Heibei University, People's Republic of China
RMBR Short-term Research Fellow
August 1999
Host: A/P Li Daiqin
Professor Song Daxiong, a full Professor from
the Institute of Zoology, China Academy of Science and working
at the Dept of Biology, Heibei University, PRC. He was attached
to the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research as the second RMBR
fellow during August 1999
Prof Song is the Vice-President of the China
Zoological Society, China Arachnological Society, and a Correspondent
of the Centre International de Documentation Arachnologique. He
is also the Chief Editor of a few regional journals and has published
over 200 papers and more than ten books on invertebrates, including
the three volume Fauna Sinica: Arachnida: Araneae-Theridiidae,
Thomisidae & Philodromidae, and Lycosidae. His current research
interests include taxonomy and biology of spiders, and biodiversity
of arachnids.
During his stay he visited several habitats at
Kent Ridge Park, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, the Central Catchment
Forest, Nee Soon Freshwater Swamp and the mangroves at Sungei
Buloh Nature Park. More than 40 species of spiders were collected
at Sungei Buloh mangroves, and more than 30 species of spiders
were collected in other places
In Singapore, Prof Song worked on the identification
of spiders in Singapore, particularly the Families Salticidae
(jumping spiders) and Thomisidae (crab spiders). He clarified
the materials in the large and historic collections of the Raffles
Museum. Part of this collection, some 392 specimens of spiders,
have been loaned to Prof Song for further work.
[top]
|
