Two ASU biology students won top prizes for their research presentations at the annual meeting of the Texas Society of Mammalogists held at Texas Tech University Feb. 15 17.

Senior Malorri Hughes won the Vernon Bailey Award and a $400 honorarium for best poster presentation in classical mammalogy at the organismal level for her project entitled Prevalence of the Sinus Roundworm, Skrjabingylus chitwoodorum, in Rabies-Negative Texas Skunks (Mephitis mephitis).

Classical Mammalogy at the Organismal Level simply means studying the mammal as a whole, Hughes said. We would study the animals environment, habitat, behavior, ecological niche, etc.

Graduate student Wesley Brashear won the Clyde Jones Award and a $400 honorarium for best poster presentation in studies pertaining to mammalian cytology, evolution, and systematics. Brashears project on bat systematics is entitled Further Evidence for the Basal Divergence of Cheiromeles (Chiroptera: Molossidae).

The Clyde Jones Award is an award given for the best poster presentation in studies pertaining to mammalian cytology; a study of cellular processes, structure and function, evolution and systematicsthe study of the evolutionary relationships of groups of organisms, Brashear said.

Using a DNA sequencer, Brashear discovered that a rather unique Malaysian species of bat called the Naked Bulldog is the oldest species of bat in the Basal Divergence of Cherinomeles, or the Chiropetra Molossidae.

18 ASU undergraduate and graduate students attended the TSM meeting, including Krysta Demere, who presented a research poster entitled Investigation of Bat Populations and Activity in Northern Tom Green and Southwestern Coke Counties.

Hughes research over rabid skunks proved to be particularly interesting for Dr. Robert Dowler, who became her mentor.

Hughes mentor, Dr. Robert Dowler, assisted Hughes with her project.

Dr. Dowler salvages the heads of rabies-negative skunks from the Texas Department of State Health Services, and eventually they are added to the Angelo State Natural History Collection, Hughes said.

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Biology students place top at Mammalogists meeting