VIJAYAWADA: An alumnus of Acharya Nagarjuna University, Dr Shabuddin Shaik, has been nominated as taxonomic editor for order ‘Bathynellacea’ of Phylum Arthropoda in World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS).
While more than 337 people from 57 countries have held the post of taxonomic editors, he is the first Indian scientist to occupy this position.
Two international academic fellowships have been conferred upon him for his pioneering work and notable contribution to the field of Biospeleology.
WoRMS is recognized as a high-quality database on marine species information. Founded in 2008 in Ostend (Belgium), it aims to provide a comprehensive catalogue of marine organisms and information on type, locality, diversity, ecology.
The task of reviewing and compiling published records of marine species and adding newly published taxa to WoRMS is the most important task of an editor, Dr Shaik said. Now, the plan was to reach out to people and make them aware of the beauty of the world’s marine biodiversity, he added.