2007 & 2008 internships:

Planthoppers are sap feeders that are known as vectors of plant viruses. Crop losses due to the group in SE Asia are estimated in hundreds of millions of dollars (Herdt, 1987). Some 150 species of planthoppers from various families are currently directly or indirectly recorded as pests of 99 economic plants (Wilson & O’Brien, 1987). At the moment, the planthoppers of SE Asia and particularly of Vietnam are poorly known and the literature is scattered.

The building of identification capacities and of properly curated reference collections would be of both national and regional importance.

The project will particularly focus on the following aspects:

• gathering of specific bibliography on planthoppers
• building and illustration of identification keys
• standardization of descriptions and of genitalia illustrations
• techniques of dissection of the genitalia
• techniques of mounting of the specimens
• identification of material from Vietnam using bibliography and collection specimens
• techniques of illustration
• recognition of taxonomically interesting characters
• review of the efficient specific collecting techniques for the group
• description of new species

2009 internship:

Cicadas or insects of the hemipteran family Cicadidae show high species diversity and are abundant in the tropics and subtropics. Because their nymph spends long period under the ground, cicadas are insects of poor dispersal ability and thus could be model organisms for studies on bio-indicators, speciation and biogeography. The fauna of Vietnam, one of the biodiversity hotspots, is also expected to be rich in cicadas. Faunal studies on cicadas in Vietnam would also contribute to our understanding of general mechanisms that have generated high biodiversity in the region. The insect fauna of cicada have some previous studies from Oriental region: Distant (1889a, b, 1890a, b, 1891, and 1892), Duffels (1983, 2002, and 2007), Lee, Y. J. & M. Hayashi (2003, 2004) and Lee, Y. J. (2008), Japan (Kato, M., 1961), Korea (Lee, Y.J., 1999), China (Chou et al., 1997). However, cicadas in the eastern part of Vietnam are still poorly studied taxonomically, preventing us from assessing cicada diversity in the region.

The building of identification capacities and of properly curated reference collections would be of both national and regional importance.

Objectives of the proposed research are:

• to contribute to the faunal inventory of Vietnam concerning the cicadas (based on new sampling and incorporating existing collections: e.g., the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, the Zoological Museum Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, and Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels)
• to provide systematic revisions of select taxa (“genera”) of Cicadidae
• to propose a genus to revise (e.g. Mogannia); types could be sent to Brussels and studied during the visit of Mr. Pham
• to produce identification keys to the Cicadidae genera and species in Vietnam

The project will particularly focus on the following aspects:

• to complete the library of references that are necessary for taxonomic study of Vietnam cicadas; while Mr. Pham is in Belgium, copies of the references that are hardly available in Vietnam will be obtained
• to produce identification keys to “select taxa” genera and species of the Cicadidae in Vietnam
• identification of material from Vietnam using bibliography and collection specimens
• recognition of taxonomically interesting characters
• description of new species
• to master the methods of analysis of phylogenetic relationships

2012 internship:

This project aims to produce a richly illustrated identification tool for the Fulgoridae of Vietnam, which will also include species presently known from neighbouring countries and which could be found in Vietnam. The work is to be published as a book in the series “Abc Taxa”. It will also include practical information about finding, collecting, mounting, dissecting and sending of specimens, and about proper curation of an insect collection. This work could be used in the future as an example to produce an identification book on Vietnamese Cicadidae.

The project will particularly deal with the following aspects:

• producing standardized illustrations allowing easy comparison of the characters
• producing identification keys which can be used by non-specialists
• illustrating and explaining step-by-step what should be done with specimens, from collecting to state-of-the-art storing in a reference collection

2013 internship:

The 2013 project aims to continue examining cicada materials not only from Vietnam but also from SE Asian countries that is deposited at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels (RBINS). This will help Mr. Pham to complete the draft of an identification book of the Cicadas from Vietnam and adjacent countries. This book will be published in the series “Abc Taxa”. It will contain a precise description and illustrations of the methods of collecting, mounting, dissecting, etc. of the Cicadidae. Those methods could easily be transposed to other families of Cicadoromorphs and Homoptera generally with little modification.