A Duy Tan University entomologist has helped win first prize at the 2026 national Science, Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation Book Award, Tuoi Tre reports. Dr Phan Quoc Toan, director of the university's Center for Entomology and Parasitology Research, was one of four experts responsible for the insect and spider sections of the Vietnam Red Book.
Tuoi Tre says about 70 scientists nationwide worked on the 2020-2024 edition of the Red Book. The new edition assesses 1,398 species, up from 842 in 2007.
It adds 49 species to the threatened list: 44 insects and five spiders. The 2007 edition listed 22 insect species and no spiders.
The paper says Toan has described more than 50 new insect species and published more than 90 international papers. Three damselfly species he discovered appear on the IUCN Red List: Protosticta spinosa as Critically Endangered, Drepanosticta emtrai as Endangered and Coeliccia schorri as Vulnerable.
Toan's centre also staged an insect exhibition at the Da Nang Museum from 22 June to 13 July 2025, according to the report.
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