Page Contents: Section | Significance | Background | Location & Dates | Taxonomic Contents | Documentation | Description of Collection | Collection Inventory | Collection Assets
Palau 2002
Section Responsible for Processing
MBC
Significance
Dr. Sammy De Grave (Oxford University Museum, England) spent several weeks between May and June 2002 collecting crustaceans in the Republic of Palau. Rarely sampled habitats such as coral reef rubble, sponges and other encrusting fauna were searched for small cryptic shrimp and associated species. Most surveys focus on soft bottom habitats or conspicuous species which account for only a fraction of a reef's inhabitants. Material from this survey will help further our understanding of the totality of reef life and elucidate new species. As Dr. De Grave is only interested in the shrimp, he generously donated the polychaete worms from his samples to NHMLAC.
Background
Material was housed at the Oxford University Museum before being sent to NHMLAC.
Nothing has been published on the polychaete fraction from Palau to date. De Grave's crustacean publications include :
Hanamura, Y. and De Grave, S. (2004). Mysid crustaceans (Mysidacea) from Palau, Northwestern Pacific. Biogeography 6: 63-68.
De Grave, S. 2004. A new species of Salmoneus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Alpheidae) from Palau. Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Biologie 74: 41-48.
Collection Location and Dates
Western Pacific, Micronesia, Caroline Islands, Republic of Palau,collections made around Koror Island, May-June 2002, intertidal to 35 meters. Specific station locations have been entered into the MBPC database, records #6448 to 6503.
Taxonomic Contents
This collection contains 56 lots of unsorted polychaetes.
Documentation
Leslie Harris has the station list from which the station records were taken for the 56 polychaete lots. Locality data has been entered into the Marine Biodiversity Processing Center database and can be downloaded from this site.
Description of Collection
All lots are preserved in 70% ethanol and are sorted to the level of Polychaeta. The collection needs further sorting to family and genus. Specimens were originally fixed in 5-10% formalin/seawater, briefly rinsed in fresh water, and subsequently preserved in 70% ethanol. The collection is located in the Polychaete/MBPC trailer as of 24 November 2008. Once collection room access is available, these lots are to be shelved on the "To Sort" shelves in Polychaete Collection Room (expected in late December 2008).
Collection Inventory
56 vials.
Collection Assets
No collection assets available.