BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//jEvents 2.0 for Joomla//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Asia/Kuching BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20200907T080000 RDATE:20380119T111407 TZOFFSETFROM:+0800 TZOFFSETTO:+0800 TZNAME:Asia/Kuching +08 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:f34c093fa12e6b8e6c4d755bcea0b5f9 CATEGORIES:In The Media CREATED:20210908T135105 SUMMARY:New Species Of Freshwater Mussels Discovered DESCRIPTION:
How does one immortalise oneself?
In the field of zoology, one way is to find a novel species and to get it named after you. That said, this is no easy feat. For most, this remains a dream. But for Dr Khairul Adha A. Rahim, one of Borneo's leading aquatic biologists and a senior lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, this dream has recently turned into reality.< /p>
Far in the untouched streams of the Bornean rainforests, the research team, led by Dr Alexandra Zieritz from the University of Nottingham, disco vered two new species of freshwater mussels as well as a new genus. One spe cies was named Khairuloconcha lunbawangorum after Dr Khairul Adha and the Lun Bawang tribe of Borneo, and the other, Khairuloconcha sahan ae to honour the late Dr Sahana Harun from Universiti Malaysia Sabah, one of the collaborators in the research.
Their road to discovery was full of wonders and new experiences . There was an evening when their water sampling was disrupted by sightings of a crocodile. Dr Khairul Adha also recalled a time when the team picked pucuk paku (the Sarawak jungle fern) for a meal. Cooked with shrim p paste, the meal was devoured by team members from the USA, Portugal, and UK who tasted the ferns for the first time and loved them.
The last d escription of freshwater mussel from Borneo was 94 years ago, thus making t his discovery an exciting one. Even more thrilling, the new species of fres hwater mussels that the team discovered are very rare, known only from one single site each (one in Sarawak, one in Sabah). Whilst both are endangered , one of the species, Khairuloconcha lunbawangorum, is at especial ly high risk of extinction due to ongoing habitat destruction.
As exp lained by Dr Khairul Adha, “The only site it's known from has already been dedicated for an industrial oil palm plantation. We are in the process of p reparing the paperwork to get this area protected. This would not only help the unique biodiversity in this area but also the indigenous Lun Bawang tr ibe after which we named that species.”
Photo of Khairuloconcha lunbawangorum, one of the two new species named after Dr Khairul Adha
Freshwater mus sels are an important asset for freshwater habitats. They act as biological filters by removing algae and other organisms from the water. In addition, they are indicators for biomonitoring, i.e., the use of organisms to asses s environmental contamination.
This discovery signals the vast amount of unknown knowledge that remains to be discovered, not only regarding fre shwater mussels, but also on Borneo’s rich biodiversity.
We asked Dr Khairul Adha if he has ever tasted the mussels or if he plans to in the fut ure.
“No,” he laughs. “I think not. I don’t feel like eating somethin g that has my name on it.”
These findings are published in the journa l Aquati c Conservation, A new genus and two new, rare freshwater mussel (Bivalvia: Unionidae) species endemic to Borneo are threatened by ongoing habitat dest ruction.
DTSTAMP:20240329T012234Z DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kuching:20210908T080000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kuching:20210908T170000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR