LIPI has recorded 100 new species in 11 years
LIPI has recorded 100 new species in 11 years
Leony Aurora , The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
One hundred new species have been added to official records,
chronicling the vast diversity of the archipelago's fauna over
the last 11 years by zoology researchers at the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences (LIPI).
Head of LIPI's zoology division Siti Nuramaliati Prijono said
on Friday at the commemoration of the division's 110th
anniversary that the scholars named the new entries from 1993 to
2004 after cross-checking with records in the LIPI Science Center
in Cibinong, West Java.
Currently, there are 2.7 million specimens from nearly 18,000
species preserved in the center.
The zoology center was established in August 1894 by Dutch
researcher J.C. Koningsberger to collect and study pest and plant
diseases. It was initially called the Museum Zoologicum
Bogoriense, but in 1987 it was changed to the Zoology Research
and Development Center and in 2000 into the zoology division.
"To most people in the world, we are still known as the
zoology museum," said Prijono.
Some 3,000 specimens are on display in a building next to the
Bogor Botanical Gardens. "The main collection and research
facilities were moved to Cibinong in 1997."
Prijono said that in the next three years, the division would
welcome around 30 young researchers as part of the 300 new ones
promised by President Megawati Soekarnoputri when she visited the
center in March.
The botany and microbiology divisions, located in Bogor, will
be moved to the Cibinong center in 2006.
"Our long-term plan is to combine the plant and animal
collections to become a natural history museum in Bogor," she
said, without providing any specific time frame.
Meanwhile, LIPI also announced that Yunadha Wilaksono and his
team from Magelang, Central Java, were the winners of a
competition to design an environmentally friendly, energy-
efficient car. He pocketed a Rp 3 million (US$326) cash prize.
Wilaksono's "Rein car_nation" vehicle can carry four
passengers and uses rechargeable batteries.
LIPI has developed a similar vehicle, called the Marlip, which
is being tried out at the Bogor Botanical Gardens to transport
visitors and the Karawang Hospital in West Java to transport
patients, doctors, food and laundry.
"Unfortunately, we have not found investors interested in
manufacturing the Marlip extensively," said the head of LIPI's
Research Center for Electrical Power and Mechatronics Mochamad
Ichwan.
Despite investment problems, the Rein car_nation will be built
as a new variant of Marlip. Masrah, president of Marlip Indo
Mandiri, said the prototype would be built within a year.
In the student category, Priantoro from Bandung won with his
"Smile" design. He brought home a Rp 2 million cash prize.
The design by Andika Widya Pramono and team, from the general
category, was selected as the visitors' favorite during a short
exhibition from Aug. 18 to Aug. 20 at LIPI's main office on Jl.
Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta. Andika won a Rp 1 million cash
prize.
New species recorded by LIPI
11 from the collembolan order
25 from the hymenoptera or ants, bees and wasps
5 butterflies and moths
4 from arachnida
8 crustaceans
9 fish
5 amphibians
4 reptiles
25 flying mammals
4 rodents