Zoology staff directory
Rod Bray
Position: Scientific Assoc, Parasitic Worms
Department: Zoology
Section: Parasitology
Contact details: - email
Research interests
Systematics, phylogeny and biology of parasitic worms, with emphasis on the Platyhelminthes. Current research interests include: the digenean parasites of marine fishes, in particular those of the deep-sea and of coral reefs and the evolution of parasitism in the Platyhelminthes. Experienced field worker, having participated in 31 research cruises, and collected at sites in England, Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Norway, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Canada, South Africa, Australia, French Polynesia and Palau.
Current activities
- Describe the systematics and bathymetry of deep-sea digeneans from the NE Atlantic, involving collection of parasites from fishes in the deep-sea to abyssal depths, including hydrothermal vents. Descriptive taxonomy and quantitative study of the depth ranges of parasites.
- The systematics, phylogenetics, zoogeography and host-specificity of Digenea from marine fishes of the Indo-West Pacific region. This project is in collaboration with Dr T.H. Cribb, University of Queensland; Dr R. Adlard, Queensland Museum. Descriptive taxonomy, cladistic phylogenetics and the development of databases enabling quantitative assessment of zoogeographical and host-specificity aspects.
- The preparation of chapters and co-editing of the book Keys to the Trematoda - a multi-author volume on the Digenea (editorial collaboration with Dr D.I. Gibson and Dr A. Jones, chapter contributions solo). This will be the first time that this important parasite group has received a critical overall systematic treatment.
- Collaboration with Dr T. Littlewood and colleagues on the 'Evolution of parasitism in the Platyhelminthes'. My involvement is mainly in the development of morphological matrices for use in conjunction with molecular data in 'total evidence' approaches to the phylogeny of various parasite groups.
Other Posts or Honoraria
| Universities of Stirling, Queensland, Valencia and Adelaide - PhD examiner | |
| University of Queensland - PhD supervisor | |
| Folia Parasitologica - Member of Board of Editiorial Advisors | |
| Nigerian Journal of Scientific Research - Advisory Board Member | |
| Systematic Parasitology - Co-editor | |
| Acta Parasitologica - Member of Editorial Board |
Employment history
| 1967 - 2004 | Natural History Museum - Researcher, Dept of Zoology |
|---|---|
| 2004 - present | Natural History Museum - Scientific Associate, Dept of Zoology |
Higher education
| 1977 | Open University - BA |
|---|---|
| 1985 | Open University - PhD |
Additional information
Guest/Invited Speaker: University of Port Elizabeth (1981), Sea Fisheries Institute, Cape Town (1981), Museums Group Symposium, Fifth International Congress of Parasitology, Toronto (1982), International Congress on Turbellaria, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada (1984), Heron Island Workshop, Queensland, Australia (1986), Sixth International Congress of Parasitology, Brisbane (1986), Second International School, Panichishte, Bulgaria (1991), First Workshop on Systematic Zoology of Tapeworms, Geneva, Switzerland (1993), PASEAN, Parasites and South East Asia, Bali, Indonesia (1996), Second Workshop on Systematic Zoology of Tapeworms, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA (1996), Society for Parasitology, Spring Meeting, Exeter (1998), Interrelationships of the Platyhelminthes. Meeting at the Linnean Society, Piccadilly (1999).
Publications
BRAY, R.A., Webster, B.L., Bartoli, P. & Littlewood, D. T. J. (2005) Relationships within the Acanthocolpidae Lühe, 1906 and their place among the Digenea. Acta Parasitologica 50: 281-291.
Jones, A., BRAY, R.A. & Gibson, D.I. (Eds) (2005) Keys to the Trematoda. Volume 2. Wallingford: CABI Publishing and the Natural History Museum, 745 pp.
BRAY, R.A. (2005) Deep-sea parasites. In: Rohde, K. (Ed.) Marine Parasites. Collingwood: CABI Publishing and CSIRO Publishing: 366-369.
Littlewood, D.T.J., Telford, M.J. & BRAY, R.A. (2004). Protostomes and Platyhelminthes. The worm's turn. In: Cracraft, J. & Donoghue, M.J. (eds) Assembling the Tree of Life. Oxford University Press: New York, 209-234.
BRAY, R.A. (2004) The bathymetric distribution of the digenean parasites of deep-sea fishes. Folia Parasitologica 51: 268-274.
Olson, P.D., Cribb, T.H., Tkach, V.V., BRAY, R.A. & Littlewood, D.T.J. (2003) Phylogeny and classification of the Digenea (Platyhelminthes: Trematoda). International Journal for Parasitology, 33: 733-755.
Cribb, T.H., BRAY, R.A., Olson, P.D. & Littlewood, D.T.J. (2003) Life cycle evolution in the Digenea: a new perspective from phylogeny. Advances in Parasitology, 54, 197-254.
BRAY, R.A. & Cribb, T.H. (2003) The digeneans of elasmobranchs - distribution and evolutionary significance. In: Combes, C. & Jourdane, J. (Eds) Taxonomie, écologie et évolution des métazoaires parasites. Taxonomy, ecology and evolution of metazoan parasites. (Livre hommage à Louis Euzet). Tome I. Perpignan: Presses Universitaire de Perpignan, 67-96.
Gibson, D.I., Jones, A. & BRAY, R.A. (Eds) (2002) Keys to the Trematoda. Volume 1. Wallingford: CABI Publishing and the Natural History Museum, 521 pp.
Littlewood, D.T.J. & BRAY, R.A. (Eds) (2001) Interrelationships of the Platyhelminthes. London: Taylor & Francis, 353 pp.
Olson, P.D., Littlewood, D.T.J., BRAY, R.A. & Mariaux, J. (2001) Interrelationships and evolution of the tapeworms (Platyhelminthes: Cestoda). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 19, 443-467.
BRAY, R.A., Littlewood, D.T.J., Herniou, E.A., Williams, B. & Henderson, R.E. (1999) Digenean parasites of deep-sea teleosts: a review and case studies of intrageneric phylogenies. Parasitology, 119 (Supplement): S125-S144.
Cribb, T.H. & BRAY, R.A. (1998) Trematodes of fishes: a test case for predictions of parasite diversity on the Great Barrier Reef. In: Greenwood, J.G. & Hall, N.J. (Eds) Proceedings of the Australian Coral Reef Society 75th Anniversary Conference, Heron Island, October 1997. Brisbane: School of Marine Science, The University of Queensland, 43-56.
Khalil, L.F., Jones, A. & BRAY, R.A. (Eds) (1994) Keys to the cestode parasites of vertebrates. Wallingford: CAB International, 768 pp.
Publication record
Authored books or edited peer reviewed professional books and monographs - 5
Peer reviewed publications - 235
Reports, commissioned work etc. - 17
Conference abstracts - 51
Patronyms
Dracovermis brayi Brooks & Overstreet, 1978 (Digenea)
Brayela Rego, 1985 (Cestoda)
Brayelinae Rego, 1985 (Cestoda)
Bucephalopsis brayi Ahmad, 1987 (Digenea)
Neolasiotocus brayi Ahmad, 1991 (Digenea)
Coomera brayi Dove & Cribb, 1995 (Digenea)
Lepidapedon brayi Zdzitowiecki & Cielecka, 1997 (Digenea)
Echinorhynchus brayi Wayland, Sommerville & Gibson, 1999 (Acanthocephalan)
Diplobulbus brayi Aken'Ova & Cribb, 2000 (Digenea)
Acanthobothrium brayi Campbell & Beveridge, 2002 (Cestode)
Bathycestus brayi Kuchta & Scholz, 2004 (Cestode)
Plesiorhynchus brayi Palm, 2004 (Cestode)
Macrourimegatrema brayi Blend, Dronen & Armstrong, 1924 (Digenea)
Grammatorcynicola brayi Bott & Cribb, 2005 (Digenea)
Hexangium brayi Hassanine & Gibson, 2005 (Digenea)
Braya Nolan & Cribb, 2006 (Digenea)