Visiting Scientist(s) Feature – Dr. Daisy Wowor and Dr. Win Mar

Dr. Daisy Wowor (left) and Dr. Win Mar (right) examining freshwater shrimp specimens in the LKCNHM research lab.

Over the past three weeks, we have been hosting Dr. Daisy Wowor and Dr. Win Mar, who are both here to work on freshwater decapod crustaceans.

Dr. Wowor is a Senior Researcher at the Research Centre for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Cibinong, Indonesia, while Dr. Win Mar is a Professor from the Department of Zoology at Bamaw University in Bhamo, Kachin, Myanmar.

Dr. Wowor is an old friend of the museum, dating almost 20 years back when she began to pursue her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Peter Ng. Since then, she has been a frequent collaborator with our resident carcinologists, with a research focus on the taxonomy of shrimps in the genus Macrobrachium.

This visit however, is a little different from her previous visits. In fact, this visit was actually a few years in the making for our visitors, dating back to the year 2015. At that time, Dr. Mar approached Dr. Wowor as she wanted to learn from her expertise in shrimp taxonomy – a different domain compared to her background in molecular work.

For various reasons they have not been able to meet each other until now. For this visit, Dr. Wowor and Dr. Mar were invited by Prof. Ng to work on the taxonomy of freshwater Macrobrachium shrimps collected from Myanmar. These specimens have been collected by Dr. Mar after years of fieldwork in Myanmar.

These specimens are a real treasure trove for carcinologists, as the taxonomy and diversity of freshwater decapods from Myanmar are not well-studied at present. Excitingly, after meticulous examination of the specimens, our visitors have discovered a few species that are new to science! In time to come, we look forward to more insights on the diversity and taxonomy of freshwater decapods from Myanmar.

Also, Dr. Wowor is working with Prof. Ng on the taxonomy of freshwater crabs from Indonesia in the genera Geosesarma and Karstama. She has brought some specimens over to the museum on this visit, and has deposited some type material in the ZRC. After examining the specimens, they were thrilled to find a few that are also new to science!

We have had a wonderful time hosting Dr. Wowor and Dr. Mar on this visit, and look forward to more exhilarating discoveries from their research. 🙂