Introduction III. Searching for new species in museum specimens

 

Specimens of brittle stars collected from Japan

In my research, how collect and sequence the Asteronyx specimens collected from all over the world is crucial to find new species of this group.

Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris and the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm possess specimens collected from the South-Pacific Ocean/Antarctic Ocean and Atlantic/North Sea. Actually, I once visited the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris (see the photo below) on 2010 October and confirmed that many specimens of Asteronyx collected from elsewhere.  Searching these specimens are ideal to accomplish my project.

 

Specimens at Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle and project team leader (Masanori Okanishi) in 2010.

Experts of Asteronyx who can identify the species correctly are very few and I am one of them. Therefore, it is essential to visit museums by myself to surely collect specimens. I want to go to these museums to collect samples to sequence the mitochondrial COI DNA region of up to 100 specimens. The mitochondrial COI DNA region may reveal new species of deep sea brittle star.

Funding allow me to visit two European museums to collect samples for DNA analysis, and to purchase regents and kits to DNA analysis based on COI gene for the collected 100 specimens. Using this analysis, I can recognize the potential new species.

Your funding will shed light on discovery of biodiversity in deep sea animals!

Thank you.

Masanori Okanishi