May 21-25 we launched a 5 day expedition to the unique, and-other than for temporary DRNA employees-uninhabited Mona Island. Mona is a natural reserve belonging to Puerto Rico situated approximately half way between Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. The expedition was organized mainly by undergraduate student Laura Caicedo and the majority of the participants in this expedition were Puerto Rican undergraduate students: José Sánchez Ruíz, Diego Agostini Ferrer, Angela Alicea Serrano, Laura Caicedo Quiroga, Vivian González Lizardi, Mahmoud Abou kheir, Clarisse Betancourt Roman, and Jhoset Burgos Rodriguez. Other participants were UPR graduate students Heine Keisbuy, Dylan Jon Rhea Fournier, and Sohath Zamira Yusseff Vanegas, UPR Mayaguez professor Dallas Alston, our cave expert and paramedic Joel de Jesús Torres, ex-manager of Mona reserve Miguel 'Tony' Nieves Soto, and PI Ingi Agnarsson.
Mona is a natural treasure known for high levels of endemism, yet the arachnid fauna is poorly known. Our expedition was very successful. We visited 6 sites on the islands, plus nine different caves, and collected hundreds of arachnids, most of which have never been recorded on Mona previously, and many of which we expect are new to science! We will now work on identifying the material and start generating DNA barcodes to get an initial grip on the diversity of arachnids on the island.
I want to thank all the members of this highly motivated and dedicated group for their excellent work!! Also special thanks to Tony Nieves and the DRNA officers at Mona island for invaluable help, use of vehicles and cabins, and for sharing their kitchen and cook!
Ingi Agnarsson
Mona is a natural treasure known for high levels of endemism, yet the arachnid fauna is poorly known. Our expedition was very successful. We visited 6 sites on the islands, plus nine different caves, and collected hundreds of arachnids, most of which have never been recorded on Mona previously, and many of which we expect are new to science! We will now work on identifying the material and start generating DNA barcodes to get an initial grip on the diversity of arachnids on the island.
I want to thank all the members of this highly motivated and dedicated group for their excellent work!! Also special thanks to Tony Nieves and the DRNA officers at Mona island for invaluable help, use of vehicles and cabins, and for sharing their kitchen and cook!
Ingi Agnarsson
RSS Feed
