Project Title: The aquatic Heteroptera of Vietnam, with a revision of the genus Amemboa Esaki, 1925 (Gerridae)
Research interests:My current project mainly focuses on the taxonomy of semi-aquatic bugs (Heteroptera) of Vietnam and adjacent areas ( Indochina), particularly the taxonomy of the water strider family Gerridae. Compared to the fauna of surrounding areas, for example, Thailand (which has been studied intensively over the past few years), water bug fauna of Vietnam is still poorly known. I have carried some intensive collections in different parts of Vietnam and discovered a high number new species, new records which could help to obtain a more complete picture on the diversity of aquatic bugs in the area.
I’m also interested in the phylogeny of the subfamily Eotrechinae (Gerridae), particularly the genus Amemboa Esaki, 1925. This is the only subfamily of Gerridae contains many taxa which survive in hygropetric (semi-terrestrial) habitats, i.e. wet areas of cascades, waterfalls (e.g. Eotrechus, Onychotrechus). Additionally, this subfamily has a limited geographical distribution (most taxa are in continental Southeast Asia, only few are in South Asia and East Asia). Thus, it is also interesting to understand more about the evolutionary history the insects between hygropetric and semi-aquatic life styles and probably the bio-geographical history of the region. The evolutionary relationships will be constructed based on molecular data (DNA sequences) and the morphology of sampled taxa.
Publications:
- Tran, A.D. & C.M. Yang, 2004. The aquatic bugs (Heteroptera) of the Anambas and Natuna Islands, Indonesia. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 11: 55-59.
- Zettel, H. & A.D. Tran, 2004. Two new species of Rhagovelia (Heteroptera: Veliidae) from Vietnam: first records of the R. papuensis group from South-eastern Asia. Tijdschrift Voor Entomologie, 147: 229-235.
- Tran, A.D. & H. Zettel, 2005. Two new species of the water strider genus Metrocoris Mayr, 1865 (Insecta: Heteroptera: Gerridae) from Vietnam, and redescription of M.femoratus (Paiva, 1919) from Meghalaya, India. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wein,106B: 41-54.
- Tran, A.D. & C.M. Yang, 2006. New species of the water strider genera Eotrechus Kirkaldy and Rhyacobates Esaki (Heteroptera: Gerridae) from Vietnam. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 54(1): 11-20.
- Zettel, H. & A.D. Tran, 2006. New species and new records of Haloveliinae (Insecta: Heteroptera: Veliidae) from Vietnam. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wein,107B: 71-90.
- Tran, A.D. & Zettel, 2006. Notes on Eotrechus Kirkaldy, 1902 (Heteroptera: Gerridae), with descriptions of two new species. Zootaxa, 1353: 39-51.
Conference:
- Tran, A. D., 2004. A preliminary study on the semiaquatic bugs (Heteromorpha: Gerromorpha) of Vietnam. XXII International Congress of Entomology, 15-21 Aug 2004, Brisbane, Australia (Oral presentation).
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