• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.305-320
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• 2005

Recently 64 species in Korea have been ranked as rare and endangered taxa by the Ministry of Environment using two categories, I and II. The original threat categories produced by the Ministry of Environment were developed to provide a standard for specifying animals and plants in danger of extinction and has been influential sources of information used in species conservation in Korea. However, the criteria by Ministry of Environment were applied to the whole taxa only by regional boundaries, especially in South Korea, rather than international context, and it also lacked an explicit framework that was necessary to ensure repeatability among taxa because of the absence of quantitative criteria to measure the likelihood of extinction. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has developed quantitative criteria for assessing the conservation status of species. The threatened species categories, the 2000 IUCN Red List, proposed by SSC (Species Survival Commission) of IUCN have become widely recognized internationally. Details of threatened Korean plants, identified by applying the IUCN threat categories and definitions, were listed and analyzed. The number of species identified as threatened was only 34 out of 64 taxa (48.4%), while the rest of taxa were rejected from the original lists. Many of the species (51.6%, 33 taxa) excluded from the original list proposed by Ministry of Environment do not qualify as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable because these taxa were widely distributed either in Japan or in China/far eastern Russia and there is no evidence of substantial decline in these countries. An evaluation of taxa in Korea has been carried out only based on subjective views and qualitative data, rather than quantitative scientific data, such as rates of decline, distribution range size, population size, and risk of extinction. Therefore, the national lists undermine the credibility of threatened species lists and invite misuse, which have been raised by other cases, qualitative estimate of risk, political influence, uneven taxonomic or geographical coverage. The increasing emphasis on international responsibilities means that global scale is becoming more significant. The current listings by Environment of Ministry of Korea should be challenged, and the government should seek to facilitate the resolution of disagreements. Especially the list should be flexible enough to handle uncertainty and also incorporates detailed, quantitative data. It is suggested that the highest priorities for the Red List should be given to endemic species in Korea first. After setting up the list of endemic species to Korea, quantitative data on population size and structure, distributional range, rated of decline, and habitat fragmentation should be collected as one of long term projects for the Red list categories. Transparency and accountability are the most important key factors. Also, species assessors are named and data sources referenced are required for the future objective evaluations on Korean plant taxa.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.132-159
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• 1994

The taxonomic revision of the family Congridae was made based on the specimens collected from the south-western coasts of the Korea from June 1988 to Oct. 1993. The family Congridae was classified into 8 species belonging to 6 genera. based on the external and internal morphological characters : Anago anago, Ariosoma anagodies, Ariosoma shiroanago shiroanago, Conger myriaster, Conger japonicus, Gnathophis nystromi nystromi, Rhechias retrotincta and Uroconger lepturus. Among the species reported as the congrid eels from Korea until now, four species were transferred into different generic or specific name Conger flavirostris into Ariosoma anagoides ; Astroconger myriaster into Conger myriaster ; Congrina retrotincta into Rhechias retrotincta and Rhynchocymba nystromi into Gnathophis nystromi nystromi. A Korean congrid eel, Ariosoma shiroanago shiroanago, was reported for first time in Korea. Intergeneric characters of the family Congridae were the form of the lateralline scales, the state of the tip of tail, the segmented state of the dorsal and anal fin rays, the existance of the supraoccipital bone and of lateral ethmoid process of the skull, the origin of dorsal fin and the forms of upper labial flange. The interspecific classification was made according to the characters such as the numbers of sensory pores of head part and in front of vent, teeth rows and numbers of upper and lower jaw, the numbers of vertebrae, the body color, the shapes of the head part, the color of intestine, the size of eye, the structure of air bladder and the number of branchiostegal rays. A new key on the taxonomical characteristics to the genera and species of the family Congridae has been estabilished and their distribution in Korea is described.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.157-187
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• 1994

This study includes the taxonomy , and a key to species of aphids in the family Lachnidae from Korea. Specimens examined in this study were collected from 24 kinds of plants. Samplings were accomplished at 95 localities in Korea from March, 1987 to August, 1994. A list of Korean lachnids are as follows. *1. Chinara atlantica (Wilson, 1919), *.2. C. cembrae(Seitner, 1936), *3. C. formosana (Takahashi, 1924), *4. C. fresai Blanchard, 1939, *5. C. idahoensis Knowlton,1935, 6. c. juniperi (de Geer, 1773), 7.C.kochi Inouye,1939, *8. C. laridicola (Matsumura, 1917), *9. C. laricis (Hartig, 2839), *10. C.longipennis (Matasumura, 1917), 11. C. orientalis (Takahashi, 1925), *12. C. pinidensiflorae(Essig & Kuwana, 1918), *13. C. piniformosana(Takahashi, 1923), *14 C. shinjii Inouye, 1938, *15. c. tujafilina (Del Guercio, 1909), *16 . c. watanabei Inouye, 1970, *17. C. togyuensis Seo. 1994. *18. C. deodarae Seo. 1994, *19. Eulachnus agilis (Kaltenbach, 1843), *20. E. pumilae Inouye, 1939, *21. E. thunbergi (Wilson, 1919), *22. Schizolachnus orientalis (Takahashi, 1924) , 23. Lachnus, Chosoni Szelegiewicz, 1975, 24. L. japonicus (Matsumura, 1917) , *.25. L. tropicalis 9van der Goot, 1916), *.26. Maculolachnus sumbacula (Walker, 1848), *27. M. paiki Seo. 1994, *28 Nipppolachnus piri Matsumura, 1917, 29. Stomaphis asiphon Szelegiewica, 1975, *30. S. japonica Takahashi, 1960, *31. S. yanonis Takahashi , 1918 , *32. Tuberolachnus salignus *(Gmelin, 1790). Of them , 27 species preceded by an asterisk were observed in this study, and keys to these 27 Korean lachnids are provided . The relationship between Korean lachnids and their host plants, and geogrpahical distribution are discussed.