Lee Hong Susan Lim (February 14, 1952 – August 2, 2014), more commonly known as Susan Lim, was a Malaysian
parasitologist who specialised on the
Monogenea, a class of parasitic
flatworms which are important
ectoparasites of fishes. She was the first and only Malaysian commissioner elected to the
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Her research was mainly in the fields of
taxonomy and faunistics, although in later years, she became involved in a wide range of parasitological disciplines.[1][2][3]
She has been considered the leading monogenean specialist in
South-East Asia.[4] By describing more than 100 new
species and reassigning more than 100 others, she became the sixth most productive
monogenean worker (and foremost female worker) of all time.[4] She is also noted for describing an entirely new attachment mechanism in the form of net-like structures formed by
secretions from the
haptor of some of her worms.[5][6][7]
Susan Lim died from cancer in
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, on August 2, 2014, after a long illness.
Education and career
Susan Lim was born at
Seremban in the State of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, on February 14, 1952. She received her early education in the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, Seremban, and completed her 6th Form studies at St Pauls Institution, Seremban.[8] In 1971 she entered the
University of Malaya in
Kuala Lumpur to read
Zoology. She remained at the same university for her MSc and PhD degrees, funding her studies as a university tutor. Her PhD,[9] under the supervision of Prof. Jose I. Furtado, was on
monogenean parasites of freshwater fishes and was completed in 1987. In 1989, she was awarded a
lectureship in the same department and in 2003 was promoted to a full
professor in the Institute of Biological Sciences. Susan Lim had numerous
postgraduate students and strong international collaborations with specialists in her field.[4]
Life-membership of the Malaysian Society of Parasitology & Tropical Medicine, 2009.
Personal life
Susan Lim married George Liew, a botanist, in 1979 and had two children.[4]
Eponymous taxa
The two
monogeneangeneraSusanlimae Boeger, Pariselle & Patella, 2015[10] and Susanlimocotyle Soares, Domingues & Adriano, 2021[11] were named by their respective authors to "acknowledge the fact that Dr. Lim was greatly responsible for most of our knowledge of the diversity of Monogenea from Asian Siluriformes."
[10][11]
The following species of
monogeneans were named in her honour:
^Wong, W. L.; Brennan, G. P.; Halton, D. W.; Lim, L. H. S. (2005). "Fine structure of the anterior adhesive apparatus (head organs) of Bravohollisia gussevi Lim, 1995 (Monogenea: Ancyrocephalidae)". Parasitology. 132 (3): 427–38.
doi:
10.1017/S0031182005009054.
ISSN0031-1820.
PMID16309563.
S2CID38428317.
^Lim, L. H. S.; Gibson, David I. (2007). "Redescriptions of species of Ancyrocephaloides Yamaguti, 1938 (Monogenea: Ancyrocephalidae) from triacanthid fishes caught off Peninsular Malaysia and a report of their haptoral secretions". Systematic Parasitology. 69 (1): 59–73.
doi:
10.1007/s11230-007-9112-8.
ISSN0165-5752.
PMID18030603.
S2CID21630734.
^Lim, L. H. S. (1995). "Bravohollisia Bychowsky & Nagibina, 1970 and Caballeria Bychowsky & Nagibina, 1970 (Monogenea: Ancyrocephalidae) from Pomadasys hasta (Bloch) (Pomadasyidae), with the description of a new attachment mechanism". Systematic Parasitology. 32 (3): 211–224.
doi:
10.1007/BF00008830.
ISSN0165-5752.
S2CID21186267.
^Lim, L. H. S. 1987. Distribution and Diversity of Monogeneans in Freshwater Fishes of Peninsular Malaysia. PhD Thesis, University of Malaysia, December 1987.
^
abSoares, Geusivam B.; Domingues, Marcus V.; Adriano, Edson A. (2021). "An integrative taxonomic study of Susanlimocotyle narina n. gen. n. sp. (Monogenoidea, Dactylogyridae) from the nasal cavities of a marine catfish (Siluriformes, Ariidae) from the Atlantic Amazon Coast of Brazil and new molecular data of Chauhanellus spp". Parasitology International. 81: 102271.
doi:
10.1016/j.parint.2020.102271.
PMID33321223.
S2CID229284383. (subscription required)
^Soo, O.Y.M. (2019). "A new species of Haliotrema (Monogenea: Ancyrocephalidae (sensu lato) Bychowsky & Nagibina, 1968) from holocentrids off Langkawi Island, Malaysia with notes on the phylogeny of related Haliotrema species". Parasitology International. 68 (1): 31–39.
doi:
10.1016/j.parint.2018.09.003.
ISSN1383-5769.
PMID30244155.
S2CID52345158.