Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Research and Collections/Crustacea
900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90007
Telephone 1.213.763.3217
email: rwetzer@nhm.org
Professional Preparation
Employment
Research History
Funding History
Teaching Experience
Public Programs
Relevant Skills
Graduate and Post Doctoral Advisors
Society Affiliations
Refereed Publications
Non-Refereed Publications
Invited Talks
Professional Presentations
University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Department of Biological Sciences, Ph.D. 2000.
California State University, Long Beach, California. Biological Sciences/Invertebrate Zoology, M.Sc. 1983.
Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, Biological Sciences, B.S. 1975.
Research Scientist, Research and Collections, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, January 2003-present.
Director, Marine Invertebrate Biodiversity Processing Center, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, January 2003-present.
Adjunct Faculty in Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, August 2005-present.
Post Doctoral Fellow, Research and Collections/Crustacea, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, December 1999-December 2002.
Supervisor, Marine Invertebrate Biodiversity Processing Center, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, August 2001-December 2002.
Graduate Teaching and Research Assistant, Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, Fall 1994-December 1999.
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Biology, and Project Manager, Grice Marine Biological Laboratory, College of Charleston, South Carolina, 1993-1994.
Collections Management Consultant for San Diego Natural History Museum, 1993.
Senior Collections Manager, Department of Marine Invertebrates, San Diego Natural History Museum, 1987-1993.
Collections Manager, Invertebrates Section, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, 1985-1987.
Staff Biologist, Pacific BioMarine Laboratories, Inc., Venice, California, 1984-1985.
Sphaeromatid Isopods (Crustacea: Peracarida), More than 600 species are known, yet we still do not know how sphaeromatid species are related to one another. This project will define their evolutionary relationships using analysis of both morphological features and gene sequences. Our sampling across taxa will provide a solid phylogenetic framework for the group, 2002.
Collaborative Research: AToL: Morphological and Molecular Phylogeny of the Decapod Crustaceans, Principal investigators, K. Crandall, D. Felder, J. Martin, C. Schweitzer and R. Feldman, are leading an international group of decapod researchers in a collaborative effort to resolve higher-level decapod relationships by integrating developmental, morphological, molecular, and paleontological evidence, 2005.
Deep arthropod phylogeny, a multi-institutional, multi-collaborator NSF-funded project sequencing 120 nuclear coding-region sequences aiming to resolve the most problematical questions in higher-level arthropod phylogeny, 2001.
Molecular systematics of carpillid crabs (collaboration with J. Martin, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County), 2000.
Molecular systematics of phreatoicid isopods (collaboration with G. Wilson, Australian Museum), 2000.
Invertebrate biologist and expedition leader for Mongolia Expedition, 2002.
Crustacean systematist for Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County on Conservation International funded Navassa Island Expedition (Caribbean), 2000.
Molecular systematics of isopods and harpacticoid copepods, 1994-present.
Genetic changes in organisms inhabiting contaminated environments, 1997.
Research on isopod crustacean systematics, 1985 to present (see publications).
Invertebrate taxonomist for Pharma Mar S. A., Madrid, Spain: 1992 Mediterranean and 1995 Namibia.
Guest scientist on Scripps Institution's R/V New Horizon Patton Escarpment Expedition. April 1989.
Field and Scuba experience throughout California, Mexico, and Baja California; expeditionary field work in Costa Rica (extensive), Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, New Zealand, Australia, South Pacific, Mediterranean, Caribbean, southern Africa, and Mongolia.
National Science Foundation, Systematic Biology, $280,500 (3 years) Phylogenetic Systematics and Biogeography of Sphaeromatid Isopods (Crustacea: Peracarida), DEB-0129317, beginning September 2002.
National Science Foundation, Biological Research Collections, $420,015 (3 years) Incorporation and Improvement of Collections of Marine Invertebrates into the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, DBI-0138674, beginning May 2002, PI: J. Martin, co-PIs: A. Valdes, G. Hendler, K. Fitzhugh, and R. Wetzer.
Australian Museum Molecular Systematic Fund, $3000, 2000.
Australian Museum Fellowship, $5,500, 1999.
EPSCOR Student Support, University of South Carolina, Travel Support, $500, 1998.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Travel Support, $600, 1998.
Baruch Institute, University of South Carolina, Travel Support, $200, 1998.
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, Grants-in-Aid of Research, $600, 1997.
National Science Foundation, Dissertation Improvement Grant, $9,970, 1997.
Venture Fund, University of South Carolina, $4,055, 1996.
Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund, American Museum of Natural History, $1000, 1996.
Fellowship to attend Workshop on Molecular Evolution, Woods Hole, $400, 1996.
EPSCOR Student Research Support, University of South Carolina, $1,500, 1996.
Slocum-Lunz Foundation Research Grants, South Carolina, $1,733, 1996 and 1998.
University of Southern California. Adjunct Professor: General Biology (BISC120, lecture partial Fall 2005, 2006, 2007; BISC220, discussion sections Spring 2007; BISC584 seminar Spring 2006).
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, curriculum development for "After School, High School Enrichment Program," see http://arthropods.nhm.org, NSF-funded Deep Arthropod Phylogeny Project (lecture, laboratory, and field trips, 2001-2002).
University of South Carolina. Teaching Assistant: Introductory Biology (laboratory, 1994, 1995) and Ecology and Evolution (laboratory, 1996).
College of Charleston. Adjunct Faculty: Introductory Biology (lecture, 1993, 1994) and Advanced Invertebrate Zoology (laboratory 1993, 1994).
University of San Diego. Teaching Assistant: Invertebrate Zoology (laboratory 1992, 1993).
San Diego Natural History Museum. Instructor for museum docents, museum members, and scout groups: Marine Invertebrates, Evolution, Natural History (1988-1993).
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Division of Education. Instructor for secondary school students: Natural Science Workshops on Marine Invertebrates (lecture and laboratory, 1986/87).
Organizer/Naturalist for San Diego Natural History Museum Members' expeditions to Costa Rica. (April 1990, April 1993, May 1993).
Edited and published San Diego Natural History Museum Science Division's quarterly newsletter UPSTAIRS (1988-1991).
Various museum public programs, including leading field trips, supervising curatorial interns (from University of San Diego and San Diego State University), marine biology classes and field trips, ocean kayaking, and others.
Prepared Marine Life Resource Inventory for the County of Los Angeles Department of Beaches and Harbors Planning Division for Las Tunas, Topanga and Will Rogers State Beaches (March, 1986).
Instructor and Key Participant, Collections Care Training Program, conducted by American Association of Museums, American Association for State and Local History, and National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property (funded by The Bay Foundation, 1986/87).
DNA extraction and purification techniques, PCR amplification, primer design, cloning, agarose/acrylamide gel electrophoresis, ABI377 automated sequencing.
Relational database design for museum collections, laboratory information management systems, and bibliographic inventories. Extensive experience in database development, construction, and analysis. Highlighted projects include: collection management, inventory, and cataloging systems for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Crustacea collections and San Diego Natural History Museum invertebrate collections, CONABIO funded Gulf of California biodiversity inventory project, and most recently citation, taxonomic, field collection data, geographic, morphological character and sequence databases.
Web-accessible relational databases for collections, e.g., http://collections.nhm.org
Computer applications including: Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Claris FilemakerPro, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Sequencher, CLUSTAL, PAUP, and MacClade.
Fluent speaking and writing in German.
SCUBA Certification and extensive research diving experience.
Small boat handling.
Supervisory experience (3-15 persons).
Post Doctoral Advisor: Joel W. Martin, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Dissertation Committee: Drs. Bruce C. Coull (Advisor), Joseph M. Quattro (Co-Advisor), Franklin G. Berger, and Sarah A. Woodin, University of South Carolina; and Dr. Jon E. Ahlquist, US Department of Commerce/NOAA, Charleston, SC. Dissertation Title: Addressing evolutionary questions in Crustacea with molecular and morphological phylogenetics.
Master's Advisors: Dr. Roy S. Houston, Loyola Marymount University; Dr. Alan Miller, California State University Long Beach. Thesis Title: Ctenidial morphology of Tegula (Mollusca: Gastropoda).
Society of Systematic Biologists, Society for the Study of Evolution, The Crustacean Society, Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, Western Society of Naturalists, Southern California Association of Marine Invertebrate Taxonomists, International Association of Meiobenthologists, American Association for the Advancement of Science, World Association of Copepodologists, Sigma Xi, Sustainable Ecosystems Institute (Conservation Peer Review Panel).
Wares, J. P., S. Daley, R. Wetzer, and R. J. Tonnen. 2007. An evaluation of cryptic lineages of Idotea balthica (Isopoda: Idoteidae): morpology and microsatellites. Journal of Crustacean Biology 27(4): 643-648.
Wetzer, R. and N. L. Bruce. 2007. A new species of Paradella Harrison and Holdich, 1982 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Sphaeromatidae) from Baja California, Mexico, with a key to the Pacific species. Zootaxa 1512: 39-49.
Zala, K., N. D. Pentcheff, and R. Wetzer. 2005. Laser-printed labels in wet collections: Are they holding up? Collection Forum 19(1/2): 49-56.
Chavez-Lopez, R., A. Rocha-Ramirez, F. Alvarez, and R. Wetzer. 2005. Elthusa alvaradoensis Rocha-Ramirez, Chavez-Lopez and Bruce, 2005 (Isopoda, Cymothoidae) parasitizing the inshore lizardfish, Synodus foetens (Linnaeus, 1766) on the continental shelf off central Veracruz, Mexico. Crustaceana 78(7): 865-872.
Bruce, N. L. and R. Wetzer 2004. Paradella tiffany sp. nov., a distinctive sphaeromatid isopod (Crustacea: Isopoda: Sphaeromatidae) from Baja California, Mexico. Zootaxa 623: 1-12.
Martin, J. W., R. W. Heard, and, R. Wetzer. 2003. A new species of Stenetrium Haswell, 1881 (Crustacea: Peracarida: Isopoda: Asellota), from Navassa Island, Northern Caribbean Sea. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 1164(4): 967-977.
Staton, J. L., B. E. Taylor, N. V. Schizas, R. Wetzer, T. C. Glenn, and B. C. Coull. 2003. Mitochondrial gene diversity of Skistodiaptomus mississippiensis in impoundments of the Upper Coastal Plain near Aiken, South Carolina, USA. Archiv fuer Hydrobiologie 158: 215-231.
Wetzer, R., J. W. Martin, S. E. Trautwein. 2003. Phylogenetic relationships within the coral crab genus Carpilius (Brachyura, Xanthoidea, Carpiliidae) and of the Carpiliidae to other xanthoid crab families based on molecular sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 27: 410-421.
Lewis, J. J., J. W. Martin, and R. Wetzer. 2003. Columbasellus acheron, a new genus and species of subterranean isopod from Washington (Crustacea: Isopoda: Asellidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 116(1): 190-197.
Wetzer, R. 2002. Mitochondrial genes and isopod phylogeny (Crustacea: Isopoda). Journal of Crustacean Biology 22(1): 1-14.
Harvey, A. W., J. W. Martin, and R. Wetzer. 2001. Crustacea. In, C. Young, M. Sewell, and M. Rice (Eds.) Atlas of Marine Invertebrate Larvae. Academic Press, London, pp. 337-369.
Wetzer, R. 2001. Hierarchical analysis of mtDNA variation and the use of mtDNA for isopod systematics (Crustacea: Isopoda). Contributions to Zoology 70(1): 23-39.
Wetzer, R. and N. L. Bruce. 1999. A new genus and species of sphaeromatid isopod (Crustacea) from Atlantic Costa Rica. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 112(20): 368-380.
Wetzer, R. and R. C. Brusca. 1997. Crustacea, Isopoda. Descriptions of species of the suborders Anthuridea, Epicaridea, Flabellifera, Gnathiidea, and Valvifera In, J. Blake and L. Watling (Eds.) Taxonomic Atlas of Santa Maria Basin and the Western Santa Barbara Channel, California, Vol. 11 - The Crustacea Part 2, pp. 9-58. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.
Wetzer, R., R. C. Brusca, and G. D. F. Wilson. 1997. Crustacea, Isopoda. Introduction to the Marine Isopoda In, J. Blake and L. Watling (Eds.). Taxonomic Atlas of Santa Maria Basin and the Western Santa Barbara Channel, California, Vol. 11 - The Crustacea Part 2, pp. 1-8. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.
Brusca, R. C., R. Wetzer, and S. C. France. 1995. Cirolanidae (Crustacea: Isopoda: Flabellifera) of the tropical eastern Pacific. Proceedings of the San Diego Society of Natural History 30: 1-96.
Wetzer, R., H. G. Kuck, P. Baéz R., R. C. Brusca, and L. M. Jurkevics. 1991. Catalog of the isopod Crustacea type collection of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Technical Reports, No. 3, 59 pp.
Wetzer, R. 1990. A new species of isopod, Aega (Rhamphion) francoisae (Flabellifera: Aegidae), from the cloaca of an ascidian from the Galápagos Islands. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 103(3): 655-662.
Wetzer, R., R. C. Brusca, and P. M. Delaney. 1987. Politolana wickstenae n. sp., a new cirolanid isopod from the Gulf of Mexico, and a review of the "Conilera genus-group" of Bruce (1986). Contributions in Science, Los Angeles County Natural History Museum 392: 1-10.
Brusca, R. C., R. Wetzer, M. Espinosa, and M. E. Hendrickx. 2005. Arthropoda: Crustacea: Peracarida: Isopoda Pp. 131-137, in M. E. Hendrickx, R. C. Brusca and L. T. Findley, A Distributional Checklist of the Macrofauna of the Gulf of California, Mexico. Part I. Invertebrates. [Listado y Distribucion de la Macrofauna del Golfo de California, Mexico, Parte I. Invertebrados]. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Conservation International. [A Distributional List of the Macrofauna of the Gulf of California]. This is a checklist with 6000+ species.
Hager, M. W., S. Y. Shelton, J. Gibson, R. Wetzer, and R. Watkins. 1997. San Diego Natural History Museum Collections Policy, 38 pp.
Brusca, R. C. and R. Wetzer. 1990. Tropical deforestation and coral reefs. Field Notes, San Diego Natural History Museum 3(4): 6-7.
Wetzer, R. 1989. Beyond Tropical Rain Forests. Field Notes - San Diego Natural History Museum 2(5): 7.
Wetzer, R. 1986. Bathynomus. A Living Sea Monster. Terra, Vol. 25(2): 26-29.
Wetzer, R. and G. Hendler. 1986. Über "Krystallkörper" bei Seesternen. Denkschr. Med. Nat. Ges, by L. Doederlein (1898), Denkschr. Med. Nat. Ges. Jena, 8:491-494. Echinoderm Newsletter, Oct. [translation].
Brusca, R. C. and R. Wetzer. 1985. Marshes of the Ocean Shore. Development of an Ecological Ethic, by Joseph V. Siry. Environmental Professional, Vol. 7(2): 191-192, [book review].
Wetzer, R. Connecting Collections to a Changing Earth. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Alliance Board, November 2007.
Wetzer, R. From Molecules to Mammoths: Science at the Natural History Museum. University of Southern California, MEB Retreat at Catalina Island Wrigley Center, October 2007.
Wetzer, R. and N. L. Bruce (Joint Seminar). Marine Isopods - Diversity and Taxonomy, National University of Singapore, October 2003.
Wetzer, R. Molecular Phylogeny in Crabs and Isopods, University of Southern California, October 2001.
Wetzer, R. Addressing Evolutionary Questions in Crustacea with Molecular and Morphological Phylogenies. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, November 2000, and California State University Long Beach, March 2001.
Wetzer, R., S. L. Elwell, and J. W. Martin. Cryptochiridae -The evolutionary relationship of gall crabs and their placement within the Brachyura. Society for Integrative Biology, San Antonio, TX, January 2008.
Pentcheff, N. D., R. Wetzer, and J. W. Martin. Growing the Decapod Tree of Life: making systematic information globally available. The Crustacean Society Mid-Year Meeting, Coquimbo, Chile, October 2007 and Society for Integrative Biology, San Antonio, TX, January 2008.
Wetzer, R. and N. L. Bruce. The Sphaeromatidae - one world-wide family or a family cluster? What molecular systematics reveals about sphaeromatid isopods (Peracarida) relationships. The Crustacean Society Mid-Year Meeting, Coquimbo, Chile, October 2007.
Wetzer, R. and N. D. Pentcheff. Insects are Crustaceans. Twentieth Annual Bug Fair, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, May 2006. Poster.
Wetzer, R. Looking for Isopods in all of the Right Places: Sphaeromatid Systematics Worldwide. Sixth International Crustacean Congress, Glasgow, July 2005. Poster.
Wetzer, R., G. D. F. Wilson, and S. J. Keable. Genetic Diversity of Distinct Populations of Phreatoicidean Isopods from the Otway and Grampian Ranges (Victoria, Australia). Fifth International Crustacean Congress, Melbourne, July 2001.
Wetzer, R., J. W. Martin, S. E. Trautwein. Phylogenetic Relationships within the Coral Crab Genus Carpilius (Brachyura, Xanthoidea, Carpiliidae) and a Preliminary Analysis of the Relationships of the Carpiliidae to Other Xanthoid Crab Families Based on Molecular Sequence Data. Fifth International Crustacean Congress, Melbourne, July 2001.
Wetzer, R. Origins of Diapause in Heteropsyllus nunni and Other Marine Harpacticoid Copepods. The Crustacean Society Summer Meeting, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, June 2000.
Wetzer, R., S. M. Shuster, and N. L. Bruce. Female Life History, Sexual Selection, and Phylogenetic Relationships Among Sphaeromatid Isopods. The Crustacean Society Summer Meeting, Lafayette, Louisiana, May 1999.
Wetzer, R. Phylogenetic Origins of Diapause in Marine Copepod Crustaceans. Fourth International Crustacean Congress, Amsterdam, July 1998.
Wetzer, R. and G. D. F. Wilson. Shaking the Isopod Tree with Molecular Data. Second International Isopod Conference, Amsterdam, July 1998.