Dr Rachael King

Dr Rachael King

  • Biography/ Background

    Rachael King is a Senior Research Scientist at the South Australian Museum, specialising in crustacean systematics. She is also an affiliated staff member of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Adelaide, working within the Invertebrate Systematics and Evolution group headed by Prof. Andy Austin.

     

    Her research interests focus on the biology, systematics and molecular phylogenetics of amphipod and isopod crustaceans, the biodiversity and evolutionary relationships of groundwater associated fauna; the biodiversity of marine invertebrates.

     

    Current work includes

    • ABRS and Hermon Slade Foundation funded projects to investigate and describe freshwater amphipods (families Chiltoniidae, Melitidae and Paramelitidae) from both surface and subterranean systems across Australia.
    • Great Australian Bight Deep Sea crustacean biodiversity assessment (Isopoda, Amphipoda)

     

     

  • Qualifications

    B.Sc. (Hons), First Class. University of Melbourne. 1997. Zoology/Marine Science major.

    Ph.D. University of Melbourne. 2002. Systematics, biogeography and evolution of the Arcturidae (Crustacea: Isopoda).

  • Teaching Interests

    Students:

    Kym Abrams, PhD Project: Systematics and phylogeography of the Parabathynellidae (Crustacea: Bathynellacea) of Australia. Completed 2012.

    Erinn Fagan-Jeffries, Honours project: Defining the stygobiont amphipod genus Nedsia using molecular and morphological approaches. Completed 2012.

    Seyedmohammad Javidkar, PhD project: Phylogenetics and systematics of the Australian troglobiont isopod genus Trichorhina. Completed 2015.

  • Research Interests

    Invertebrate systematics, particularly crustacean morphology and phylogenetic revision. Invertebrate biodiversity studies. Phylogenetic analyses.

     

  • Publications

    King, R.A. and Poore, G.C.B., 2001. Redescription of the tropical Australian Isopod, Lyidotea nodata Hale, 1929 (Crustacea: Idoteidae). Memoirs of Museum Victoria 58(2): 365-371.

    King, R.A. and Poore, G.C.B., 2001. Diagnosis of Arcturopsis Koehler, 1911 and redescription of A. giardi (Bonnier, 1896) (Crustacea, Isopoda, Arcturidae). Zoosystema, 23(3):467-477.

    King, R.A., 2003. First valid record of Astacilla Cordiner, 1793 in Australia, with description of a new species (Crustacea: Isopoda: Arcturidae). Records of the Western Australian Museum, 21:359-366.

    King, R.A., 2003. Neastacilla Tattersall, 1921 (comb. nov.) redefined with descriptions of eight new species from Australia (Crustacea: Isopoda: Arcturidae). Memoirs of Museum Victoria, 60(2): 241-286.

    King, R.A., Myers, A.A. & McGrath, D., 2004. A review of shallow water Irish and British Harpinia Boeck (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Phoxocephalidae) species including the first detailed descriptions of the males of Harpinia laevis Sars and Harpinia pectinata Sars. Journal of Natural History, 38 (10): 1263 – 1286.

    King, R.A. and Holmes, J.M.C. 2004. A new species of Ischyrocerus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from Ireland with a review of Ischyrocerus anguipes and Ischyrocerus minutus from the North East Atlantic. Journal of Natural History, 38 (14): 1757–1772.

    King, R.A., Myers, A.A. & McGrath, D. 2004. The Ampelisca aequicornis group of species (Amphipoda: Ampeliscidae) with a key and description of Ampelisca eclimensis sp. nov. from Ireland. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 84: 155-164.

    King, R.A. 2004. A description of Harpinia karamani sp. nov. (Amphipoda: Phoxocephalidae) from the Mediterranean, with a redescription of Harpinia truncata Sars, 1891. Zootaxa 724: 1-10.

    R.W. Heard, W. W. Price, D. M. Knott, R. A. King, and D. M. Allen. 2006. A taxonomic Guide to the mysids of the South Atlantic Bight. NOAA Professional Papers NMFS 4. 37 pp.

    King R.A. and Cawood, A. 2007. A revision of the isopod genus Chiridotea (Isopoda: Chaetiliidae) with species redescriptions and a key. Journal of Crustacean Biology 27(1): 121-139.

    R.W. Heard and R.A. King. 2007. Crosniera wennerae, a new species of thalassinidean (Crustacea: Decapoda: Thomasiniidae) from the South Atlantic Bight. Zootaxa 1644: 41-49.

    R.W. Heard, R.A. King, D.M. Knott, B.P. Thoma, and S. Thornton-DeVictor. 2007. A guide to the Thalassinidea (Crustacea: Malacostraca: Decapoda) of the South Atlantic Bight. NOAA Professional Papers Series NMFS 8, 30 pp. (http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/pp8.pdf)

    King, R.A. 2008. A re-description of Accalathura crenulata (Richardson, 1901) from type material and the description of two new Accalathura species (Crustacea: Isopoda: Anthuridea) Zootaxa 1761: 17-29.

    King, R.A. 2009. Ampeliscidae. In: Lowry, J.K. & Myers, A.A. (Eds) (2009) Benthic Amphipoda (Crustacea: Peracarida) of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Zootaxa, 2260: 132–142

    King, R.A. 2009. Redescription of the freshwater amphipod Austrochiltonia australis (Sayce) (Crustacea: Amphipoda, Chiltoniidae), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 66: 85–93.

    King, R.A. 2009. Two new genera and species of chiltoniid amphipods (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitroidea) from freshwater mound springs in South Australia, Zootaxa, 2293: 35–52.

    D.L. Pawson, D.J. Pawson, and R.A. King. 2010. A Taxonomic guide to the Echinodermata of the South Atlantic Bight, USA: 1. Sea Cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea), Zootaxa 2449: 1-48.

    Guzik M. T., Austin, A.D., Cooper S.J.B., Harvey M.S., Humphreys, W.F., Bradford, T., Eberhard, S.M., King, R.A., Leys, R., Muirhead, K.A., Tomlinson, M. 2011. Is the Australian subterranean fauna uniquely diverse? Invertebrate Systematics, 24: 407–418.

    King, R.A. and R. Leys. 2011. The Australian freshwater amphipods Austrochiltonia australis and Austrochiltonia subtenuis (Amphipoda: Talitroidea: Chiltoniidae) confirmed and two new cryptic Tasmanian species revealed using a combined molecular and morphological approach. Invertebrate Systematics 25(3): 171–196.

    King, R.A., T. Bradford, A.D Austin, W.F. Humphreys, S.J.B. Cooper. 2012. Divergent molecular lineages and not-so-cryptic species: the first descriptions of stygobitic chiltoniid amphipods from Western Australia. Journal of Crustacean Biology 32(3): 465-488.

    Abrams, K.M., R.A. King, M.T. Guzik, S.J.B. Cooper, A.D. Austin. 2013. Molecular phylogenetic, morphological and biogeographic evidence for a new genus of parabathynellid crustaceans (Syncarida: Bathynellacea) from groundwater in an ancient southern Australian landscape Invertebrate Systematics 27:146-172.

    King, R.A. and R. Leys. 2014. Molecular evidence for mid-Pleistocene divergence of populations of three freshwater amphipod species (Talitroidea: Chiltoniidae) on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, with a new spring-associated genus and species Australian Journal of Zoology 62(2) 137-156.

    Leijs R, Bradford T, Mitchell JG, Humphreys WF, Cooper SJB, Goonan P, and King RA. 2015. The Evolution of Epigean and Stygobitic Species of Koonunga Sayce, 1907 (Syncarida: Anaspidacea) in Southern Australia, with the Description of Three New Species. PLoS ONE 10(8): e0134673. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0134673

    Mohammad Javidkar, S.J.B. Cooper, R.A. King, W.F. Humphreys and A.D. Austin. 2015. Molecular phylogenetic analyses reveal a new southern hemisphere oniscidean family (Crustacea: Isopoda) with a unique water transport system. Invertebrate Systematics 29, 554-577.

     

    Murphy, N.P., King, R.A., and Delean, S. 2015. Species, ESUs or populations? Delimiting and describing morphologically cryptic diversity in Australian desert spring amphipods. Invertebrate Systematics 29, 457–467. 

     

     

     

  • Professional Associations

    The Australian Marine Sciences Association

    The Crustacean Society

    Society of Australian Systematic Biologists

    Society of Systematic Biologists (US)

    The Systematics Association (UK)

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Entry last updated: Tuesday, 24 May 2016