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