Project Title: The Taxonomy and Systematics of the Xanthidae (Decapoda: Brachyura) of the Philippines

Selected publications: (none related to carcinology at the moment)

I've just recently joined the Ecology and Systematics Lab, having gotten my Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of the Philippines (Diliman), where I majored in Cell and Molecular Biology. Now I've decided to do more work and training in taxonomy, focusing on crabs in particular. In the Philippines, the supposed center for marine biodiversity, there has been a revival of interest in crustacean biodiversity in recent years. This laboratory has been one of the major forces responsible for this "renaissance". At the moment, I am working on the collection of Philippine Brachyura sampled during the Panglao 2004 and Panglao 2005 expeditions. I will also be joining in future expeditions to the Philippines and other related activities in the Indo-Pacific. My main goal is to elucidate or revise the taxonomy of the xanthid crabs collected from these trips, describe new species, and to come up with an updated checklist of brachyuran crabs from the Philippines.