A group of biological scientists and researchers from the central city’s Science and Education College together with two professors from Belgium and Thailand have found five new rotifer species after research conducted in Viet Nam from 2013.

A microscope photo of a new rotifer species -- Lecane Langsenensis -- found by biologists from Da Nang. It's one of five rotifer species that were discovered

A scientific report on the five new rotifer species – Lecane Langsenensis; Lecane Phapi; Lecane Dorysimillis; Trichocerca bauthiemensis and Ploesoma asiaticum – was released in the scientific magazine Zootaxa – a peer-reviewed scientific mega journal for animal taxonomists, in 2019, and the Journal of Limnology published in 2013.

The five species rotifer were found in the Huong and Nhu Y rivers in the central Thua Thien-Hue Province and Lang Sen nature reserve in the southern Long An Province following research from 2013-19.

Dr. Trinh Dang Mau, who researched the five rotifer species, said the Lecane Langsenensis was found in joint research with two colleges, Vo Van Minh and Phan Doan Dang, in LAng Sen reserve in 2015 and the Hương River in 2019.

The other four Rotifer species – Lecane Phapi; Lecane Dorysimillis; Trichocerca bauthiemensis and Ploesoma asiaticum – were included in the research with two professors, Hendrik Sergers from the Royal Belgium Institute of Natural Sciences and La-orsri Sanonmuang from Khon Kaen University of Thailand, at Bau Thiem Lake, Thuy Tien Lake and Nhu Y River in Thua Thien-Hue Province in 2011-15. The scientific reports on the four species were published in the Journal of Limnology in 2013 and Zootaxa in 2015.

According to the reports, 72 rotifer species were first recorded in freshwater and saline water zones in Viet Nam in 1966, and 52 more species found in northern Viet Nam in 1980. A few studies then found 65 species in the central region and 49 species in the southern region in 2011 and 2012.

Recent studies from 2013-19 documented 100 new records to Viet Nam’s rotifer fauna and the five new species to science. These results indicated a high potential of rotifer diversity in Viet Nam, Mau said.

He said about 2,030 rotifer species were known in the world.

Mau, who is head of the lab for algae research and bioactive natural products at the Da Nang College for Science and Education, said rotifer plays a crucial role in the energy flow because they are responsible for transforming carbon from picogram and nanoplankton to macrozooplankton, acting as links between microbial loops and larger aquatic food.

Rotifers are considered effective indicators for environmental conditions, and they can be used as live feed for fish larvae in aquaculture, he added.

The report on the five new rotifer species was included in the list of 121 scientific articles from Da Nang scientists that were published in scientific magazines in 2019.

Three new species of the ginger family and a new Rowley’s litter frog (leptolalax rowleyae) were found in the Son Tra Nature Reserve in Da Nang following research between 2012-18.

Source: VNS