Ong Xin Rui

Dr Ong Xin Rui is a Research Fellow from the NUS Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum and NTU Tropical Ecology and Entomology Lab (TEE Lab).

Since her undergraduate years, Xin Rui has a soft spot for dung beetles. This group of insects occur in every terrestrial environment, and play essential roles in nutrient recycling, soil aeration and seed dispersal. 

In her current fellowship, Xin Rui is investigating the taxonomy and phylogeny of Southeast Asian dung beetles. Here, she uses integrative taxonomic approaches, which involves the combination of morphological traits and genetic information to determine how dung beetle species are related to one another. Her favourite tea is matcha oat milk latte.