Umilaela ArifinLeibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change | LIB · Centre for Taxonomy and Morphology
Umilaela Arifin
Dr. rer. nat.
I am looking for a job to continue doing research. Feel free to reach out to me.
About
48
Publications
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Introduction
I am interested in the amphibians and reptiles of Southeast Asia, with a special interest in those occurring in Indonesia; particularly on morphology, phylogenetic systematics, evolution, phylogeography, ecology, behavior, and conservation. My current research focused on the evolution and ecology of ranid frogs with gastromyzophorous tadpoles (the belly-suckers in the tadpoles help them to cling on to rocks in torrential streams).
Additional affiliations
April 2019 - January 2020
Education
October 2013 - January 2019
August 2006 - October 2008
August 2001 - March 2006
Publications
Publications (48)
We describe a new species of Pulchrana from the island of Sumatra, in western Indonesia. Pulchrana fantastica, new species, is currently only known from Aceh and Sumatera Utara provinces. It is related to P. siberu and P. centropeninsularis as inferred from morphological similarity and phylogenetic relationships, estimated from DNA sequences. It ca...
The presence of an adhesive abdominal sucker (gastromyzophory) allows tadpoles of certain species of anurans to live in fast-flowing streams. Gastromyzophorous tadpoles are rare among anurans, known only in certain American bufonids and Asian ranids. To date, Huia sumatrana , which inhabits cascading streams, has been the only Sumatran ranid known...
We estimate the phylogenetic relationships among all six recognized species of the genus Staurois based on 16S rRNA sequences (̃522 bp) for 92 specimens from Borneo and the Philippines. Our preferred phylogenetic tree inferred from Maximum Parsimony and Bayesian methods reveal six major clades within the genus leading to recognition of S. natator,...
A new species of Cyrtodactylus is described from Sulawesi and the adjacent island of Kabaena, Indonesia. This new species is the largest Cyrtodactylus known from Sulawesi and differs from all other congeners by the absence of precloacal and femoral pores, enlarged femoral scales or pubic groove; medium to large size (up to 113.6 mm snout-vent lengt...
Groundwater ecosystems are inhabited by unique assemblages of animals, often with restricted distributions and highly specialized traits. Those assemblages sustain ecosystem functioning and contribute to important ecosystem services. Knowledge of the species occurring in those habitats and the main ecological and historical drivers for their distri...
The amphibians of the Indonesian island of Sumatra are poorly known, despite it being recognized as a biodiversity hotspot. For determining conservation priorities, up-to-date knowledge of the state of amphibian diversity in Sumatra is crucial, particularly considering the high deforestation rate on the island. To address this, I compiled and analy...
The Indonesian island of Sulawesi has a unique geology and geography, which have produced an astoundingly diverse and endemic flora and fauna and a fascinating biogeographic history. Much biodiversity research has focused on the regional endemism in the island’s Central Core and on its four peninsulas, but the biodiversity of the island’s many upla...
Bent-toed Geckos, genus Cyrtodactylus, are one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate groups, and their range extends from South Asia into Australo-Papua and adjacent Pacific islands. Given the generally high faunal endemism on Wallacean islands, it is rather paradoxical that the diversity in these geckos appears to be so low (21 species in Wal...
The Timor monitor lizard, Varanus timorensis, is unknown for its reproductive attributes in the natural habitats in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. Timor monitors inhabit tropical forests and modified lands for agriculture with estimated breeding season between May and July. Reproductive characteristics and overall natural history of this spec...
The biota of Sulawesi is noted for its high degree of endemism and for its substantial levels of in situ biological diversification. While the island's long period of isolation and dynamic tectonic history have been implicated as drivers of regional diversification, this has rarely been tested in the context of an explicit geological framework. Her...
Field biology is an area of research that involves working directly with living organisms in situ through a practice known as “fieldwork.” Conducting fieldwork often requires complex logistical planning within multiregional or multinational teams, interacting with local communities at field sites, and collaborative research led by one or a few of t...
The archipelagos of Wallacea extend between the Sunda and Sahul Shelves, serving as a semi‐permeable two‐way filter influencing faunal exchange between Asia and Australo‐Papua. Forest skinks (Genus Sphenomorphus) are widespread throughout southern Wallacea and exhibit complex clinal, ontogenetic, sexual, and seasonal morphological variation renderi...
Rivers are known to act as biogeographic barriers in several strictly terrestrial taxa, while possibly serving as conduits of dispersal for freshwater-tolerant or -dependent species. However, the influence of river systems on genetic diversity depends on taxa-specific life history traits as well as other geographic factors. In amphibians, several s...
Cryptic ecologies, the Wallacean Shortfall of undocumented species' geographical ranges and the Linnaean Shortfall of undescribed diversity, are all major barriers to conservation assessment. When these factors overlap with drivers of extinction risk, such as insular distributions, the number of threatened species in a region or clade may be undere...
Frogs in the family Ranidae are diverse in Asia and are thought to have dispersed to the Sahul Shelf approximately 10 million years ago, where they radiated into more than a dozen species. Ranid species in the intervening oceanic islands of Wallacea, such as Hylarana florensis and H. elberti from the Lesser Sundas and H. moluccana from eastern Wall...
Field biology is an area of research that involves working directly with living organisms in situ through a practice known as “fieldwork.” Conducting fieldwork often requires complex logistical planning within
multiregional or multinational teams, interacting with local communities at field sites, and collaborative research led by one or a few of t...
Secara umum, bidang ilmu yang mempelajari amfibi dan reptil (herpetologi) di Indonesia telah menunjukkan perkembangan yang baik dari tahun ke tahun. Hal ini ditunjukkan dengan meningkatnya jumlah publikasi mengenai amfibi dan reptil di Indonesia, baik berupa tulisan ilmiah maupun populer. Seiring kemajuan teknologi, sebagian besar publikasi tersebu...
The Lesser Sunda Archipelago offers exceptional potential as a model system for studying the dynamics of dispersal-driven diversification. The geographic proximity of the islands suggests the possibility for successful dispersal, but this is countered by the permanence of the marine barriers and extreme intervening currents that are expected to hin...
The widespread parthenogenetic gecko Lepidodactylus lugubris is comprised of several clonal lineages, at least one of which has been known for some time to have originated from hybridization between its maternal ancestor, Lepidodactylus moestus, and a putatively undescribed paternal ancestor previously known only from remote islands in the Central...
The Lesser Sunda Archipelago consists of hundreds of oceanic islands located in southern Wallacea. The Sunda ratsnake, Coelognathus subradiatus, is endemic to the Lesser Sundas and is found on most of the major islands. Mitochondrial DNA was sequenced from snakes representing five of the major islands revealing that levels of sequence divergence be...
Despite a considerable amount of research, the systematics of the ranid genus Huia have remained unresolved, mostly owing to insufficient sampling and morphological similarities. As currently circumscribed, Huia consists of five species, but multiple studies have consistently demonstrated that it is not a monophyletic genus. However, no study has a...
Wallace's and Lydekker's Lines both describe important biogeographic barriers in the Indo-Australian Archipelago, with Wallace's Line demarcating the boundary of the Greater Sunda Shelf and Lydekker's Line indicating the edge of the Sahul continental shelf. Despite their similarities, Wallace's Line has been much more heavily studied than has Lydek...
West Java Province has the largest population amongst others in Java, and therefore land conversion rate in the region is increasing. Approximately 40% of forest areas in West Java has been converted between 1990–2015. As a consequence, the number of biodiversity in the region is decreasing, including amphibians and reptiles. These groups play an...
In 2011 and 2014, we conducted two expeditions to four islands in the Kei Island group in Maluku Province of eastern Indonesia. We documented and collected 33 species of lizards, snakes, and frogs, and after reviewing historical occurrences in the island group, we accounted for a total of 39 species present in the Kei Islands (26 lizards, 10 snakes...
Sumatra boast an extraordinary level of vertebrate diversity, including many endemic species, especially of amphibians. A total of 104 species of amphibians, including frogs/toads (Anura) and caecilians (Gymnophiona) have been recorded on the island. In the last decade alone, several new species of amphibians were described from this island, and ye...
We conduct species delimitation of the widespread parachuting frog species Rhacophorus catamitus using samples from across the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. We use mitochondrial, genomic and morphological data, and find that R. catamitus is composed of three lineages corresponding to northern, central and southern lineages. Mitochondrial and genomi...
Lepidodactylus pantai is a new species of gecko from the Kei Islands, Maluku, Indonesia that is closely associated with intertidal habitats. This species does not fit cleanly into any of the three species groups described for the genus because it possesses the unique combination of both divided terminal scansors on all toes and a nearly completely...
We describe a new genus and two new species of toads from the Sumatran volcanoes Gunung Sorikmarapi and G. Kunyit, in the provinces of Sumatera Utara and Jambi, respectively. The new taxa can be distinguished from other genera, and each other, based on genetic differentiation, morphology, and advertisement call structure. We employ both nuclear and...
Sumatra is the 6th largest island in the world which has fascinating biodiversity, including herpetofauna. Unfortunately, Sumatran herptofauna is poorly understood, either its diversity or other biological aspects (e.g. feeding activity and prey composition). Given that Ranidae is a widespread species, no information or studies on the feeding activ...
Ingerana rajae, new species, is found in Bukit Baka-Bukit Raja National Park, West Kalimantan, Borneo, and is characterised by its large size, dorsum covered with tubercles, no clear distinction of the dorsolateral area, tympanum completely concealed under skin, and fi ngers and toes ornamented with widely enlarged tips with a circum-marginal groov...
Occidozyga semipalmata is found to be unique based on the fl attened fi nger and toe tips that lack circum-marginal grooves and in having a tongue with rounded tip. Another form, O. tompotika new species, is found at Mount Tompotika, Eastern Peninsula of Sulawesi, appears to be closely related to species from the Wallacean region and the Philippine...
In response to the recent rediscovery of Barbourula kalimantanensis, which is currently the only known lungless frog, a number of biologically important aspects of the species were examined and its taxonomy and conservation status was reviewed. Based on the species’ ecological requirements, habitat restrictions and recent severe habitat loss, we pr...
Cyrtodactylus batik is a new species described on the basis of seven specimens collected from Mount Tompotika, in the Balantak Mountains, eastern peninsula of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. This large Cyrtodactylus (up to 115 mm snout– vent length), differs from all other congeners by the combination of striking velvety black dorsal coloration with f...
A study on the herpetological diversity of Karimata Island was conducted from 27 January–7 March 2008. Eight species of amphibians, dominated by the family Dicroglossidae (Limnonectes ingeri, L. malesianus, L. paramacrodon and Fejervarya cancrivora) and 18 species of reptiles, dominated by the family Gekkonidae (Cnemaspis kendallii, Cyrtodactylus s...
Introduction Intact, biodiverse ecosystems provide invaluable life-support services, raw natural resources, and cultural necessities ranging from recreational to spiritual. Moreover, they are literally economically priceless (Costanza et al. 1997). It is widely appreciated that “biodiversity is good’ and that ultimately, human well-being and persis...
Questions
Questions (3)
Does anyone has experience using Minion in the field? Will it be possible to share your experience on using Minion during your fieldwork, particularly in a remote area? Is it worth? What is the challenge? What would you suggest to anyone who would like to use Minion in the field?
Thanks!
Hey folks,
I am trying to design an experiment to obtain DNA from historical specimens of frogs (some of them were collected >100 years old.
Anyone experience with the manufactured DNA extraction kit from FFPE tissue samples? Could you share your experience in using this kit compare to the normal tissue extraction kits or the old-school methods (e.g., phenol-chloroform method)? Which one work best (e.g., produce large amount and high quality of DNA required for subsequent steps)?
Also, what do you think about this study?
And if anyone experience with the forensic extraction kit?
I really appreciate your help!
Best regards,
Dear all researchers,
I am still pretty new in the molecular research and need some help/suggestion. I want to study distribution pattern of amphibian in one particular island which has several drainage systems. I only sequenced some gene loci (not genomic) from my frogs (let say one or two frogs from each stream). My phylogenetic tree shows some pattern which was congruent with the watershed system in this island. I plan to do more analysis to understand this pattern more. I am at the moment running the divergence analysis to know when did this frogs colonize each watershed.
My question are:
1. Can I treat my samples from different streams within the same watershed as one population? Therefore I can apply isolation by distance analysis to see whether this also affected that pattern?
2. What else could i do to exploit more information from this pattern?
Thank you so much for your response! I really appreciate it. :)