Thirty-five college students from Adamson University, Divine Word College- Legazpi and Southern Luzon State University joined and completed this year's edition of the "Summer Short Course on Biodiversity for Beginners: Methods and Analysis for Biodiversity Field Surveys" held 16-22 May 2015 at the UPLB Museum of Natural History.

According to James DV. Alvarez, one of the course coordinators, the participants were trained to understand, through lectures and fieldworks, the concepts and principles underlying and related to biological diversity.

The Museum of Natural History paid tribute to the Father of Philippine Wildlife Conservation, Dr. Discoro Siarot Rabor, by holding its first Rabor Day last May 18. The celebration was timed with the 104th birth anniversary of the famed wildlife biologist and in observance of May as the National Heritage month.

In an interview, MNH Director Juan Carlos T. Gonzalez said that "the Museum prepared a month-long exhibit on Dr. Rabor with a display of some of his priceless collections at the Museum lobby."

"Visitors will have the extraordinary experience of seeing in person some of Dr. Rabor's collections which are not usually seen by the public," Gonzalez said.

UPLB faculty, staff, students and alumni can visit the UPLB Museum of Natural History for free this coming May 18 (Monday), 2015. All they need is to present a valid UPLB or UPLB Alumni Association ID at the entrance.

May 18 marks a new special day for the Museum as it has been designated by management as Rabor Day, in honor of Dr. Dioscoro S. Rabor (1911-1996), considered as the Father of Philippine Wildlife Conservation. Rabor's birthdate is May 18, and this Monday will be his 104th birth anniversary.

Myrmecologists David Emmanuel M. General and Perry Archival C. Buenavente of the UPLB Museum of Natural History and Philipine National Museum, respectively, recently announced the formal description of a new ant species discovered in the forests of Palawan Island.

In an article published in India-based journal HALTERES (Vol 6, 2015, pp. 56-62), the two ant specialists described Romblonella coryae sp. n. from the primary lowland rainforest of one of Palawan's highest peaks, Cleopatra's Needle. 

The researchers named the new ant R. coryae sp. n. in honor of the late former Philipine President, Corazon "Cory" C. Aquino. "It is only but fitting that a genus named after a Philippine island has a species named after a modern Filipino hero," the researchers wrote.

Seventy-four BS Biology students from Bicol University, accompanied by their five faculties-in-charge, recently finished the Museum's three-day course on "Methods and Analysis for Vertebrate Wildlife Field Surveys" from 24-26 April.

The course is an introduction to vertebrate biodiversity, its conservation and the underlying and related concepts and principles, including species richness, evolution and natural selection, systematics/taxonomy, ecosystems, biotic interactions, endangered species and impacts of introduced organisms. 

A new species of cicada has been identified by UPLB MNH curator Dr. Ireneo L. Lit, Jr. and cicada expert Dr. Young June Lee of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut.

In a recently published paper (Zootaxa 3948 (2): 296–300), Drs. Lee and Lit formally described the "laughing" cicada Psithyristria ridibunda sp. nov. from Banahao de Lucban, Quezon.

The specific name, according to the scientists, is a Latin adjective referring to "laughing" -- an allusion to the sound generated by the males of this cicada species usually right after sunset.