Ken Aplin (zoologist)

Kenneth "Ken" Peter Aplin (born October 9, 1958 ) is an Australian zoologist. His main research interests are mammalogy , herpetology and paleontology .

Life

Aplin first studied archeology at the Australian National University , where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1981 . In 1990 he received his doctorate with a thesis Basicranial regions of diprotodontian marsupials: anatomy, ontogeny and phylogeny at the University of New South Wales for Ph.D. in biology . In the 1980s he conducted research with Michael Archer in the paleontological site of Riversleigh in Queensland , which resulted in a 1987 study of the anatomy of the lower face (Basicranium) of the marsupial Wynyardia bassiana , which became extinct in the Miocene . In the same year, Aplin and Archer published the key study Recent advances in marsupial systematics with a new syncretic classification , which is still one of the standard references for marsupial classification.

From 1989 to 2000 Aplin curator was in the department of terrestrial vertebrates at the Western Australian Museum . From 2001 to 2004 he worked as a wildlife biologist in the rodent research group of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). From 2004 to 2011 he was a researcher at the Australian National Wildlife Collection of the CSIRO. Since 2011 he has been working as a freelance consultant for wildlife and archeology issues. He is also a member of the Mammals Division of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC

Aplin is one of the Erstbeschreibern of diverse animal species, including the Raubbeutlerart Pseudantechinus roryi , the Arfak dactylopsila ( Dactylopsila kamburayai ), the rodent species timorensis Rattus , Mallomys gunung and Mallomys istapantap that blind snake species Anilios ganei , Anilios longissimus , Anilios pilbarensis and Anilios splendidus that skinks Ctenotus maryani and Eremiascincus butlerorum that pygopodidae Delma desmosa and Delma tealei , the gecko species Diplodactylus klugei that monitor species Varanus bushi and the frog Litoria exophthalmia . In 1987 he set up the family of the dwarf glider (Acrobatidae), whose members were previously placed in the family of the bilchbeutler (Burramyidae). Aplin also described some fossil species, including Coryphomys musseri , Petauroides ayamaruensis , Dendrolagus noibano , Protemnodon nombe and Protemnodon tumbuna .

In addition to numerous scientific articles, Aplin has contributed to the work The Mammals of Australia (2008) by Ronald Strahan and Steve van Dyck, as well as the chapters on the dwarf glide pouches and the pouch mole in volume five of the Handbook of the Mammals of the World (2015).

Dedication names

In 2004 Kristofer Helgen and Tim Flannery named the Arfak mouse-nosed pouch ( Microperoryctes aplini ), which is endemic to the Arfak Mountains of Papua New Guinea , in honor of Ken Aplin. In 2018, the extinct rodent species Alormys aplini from the Indonesian island of Alor was named after Aplin.

Fonts (selection)

• Building Frog Friendly Gardens , 2000
• Field Guide to Reptiles and Frogs of the Perth Region , 2010
• Kapitel Family Muridae (True Mice and Rats, Gerbils and relatives) In Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 7. Rodents II, Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, ​​2017 (with Peter J. Taylor and Christiane Denys)

Web links

• Employee Profile at the Smithsonian Institution
• LinkedIn profile

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Aplin, K. 1987. Basicranial anatomy of the early Miocene diprotodontian Wynyardia bassiana (Marsupialia: Wynyardiidae) and its implications for wynyardiid phylogeny and classification ; P. 369-391 In: M. Archer, (Ed.), Possums and Opossums: studies in evolution. Surrey Beatty & Sons Pty Ltd and Royal Zoological Society, Sydney.
2. ^ Aplin, K., and M. Archer. 1987. Recent advances in marsupial systematics with a new syncretic classification ; Pp. 15-75 in M. Archer (ed.), Possums and Opossums: studies in evolution. Surrey Beatty & Sons Pty Ltd and Royal Zoological Society, Sydney.