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Centre for Taxonomy and Morphology (ztm)

The majority of global biodiversity is insufficiently known. However, we need comprehensive and reliable data so that we can protect biodiversity in a targeted and comprehensive manner. Discovering, describing, distinguishing and characterising species is a prerequisite for understanding the evolution of life on Earth and recognising ecological relationships. Our researchers at the Centre for Taxonomy and Morphology (ztm) pursue these core tasks.

Collections as a store of knowledge

Using taxonomic-systematic, morphological and molecular analyses, they generate knowledge about biological diversity, which they interpret using objects from the collections. The scientific collections form the heart of the ztm and provide the information basis for understanding changes and formulating forecasts.

Digitised data accessible to all

The staff at the ztm are continuously developing this "library of life" and making it accessible to researchers from all over the world and to the public. At the ztm, scientists develop strategies for the expansion and digitisation of the collections. They pass on their knowledge of the species to schoolchildren, students, the interested public and members of international co-operation projects.

Sections | of 26

Prof. Dr. Mariella Herberstein

  • Head of Centre for Taxonomy & Morphology
  • Deputy Director General LIB at the Hamburg location

Phone: +49 40 238317 630
E-Mail: m.herberstein@leibniz-lib.de

Contact for enquiries in Hamburg

Wiebke Müller

  • Centre assistance

Phone: +49 40 238317 630
E-Mail: w.mueller@leibniz-lib.de

Contact for enquiries in Bonn

Gizella Nett

  • Centre assistance

Phone: +49 228 9122 191
E-Mail: g.nett@leibniz-lib.de

Publications

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    2026

  • 2026/10

    Kunwar, B., Baral, S., Jeong, Y., Oh, H.

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    Modeling the Invasion: Habitat Suitability and Landscape Connectivity of Wild Boar ( Sus scrofa ) on Jeju Island, South Korea

    Ecology and Evolution, 10, 16

  • 2026/10

    Langer, M.R., Rödder, D.

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    The thermal and trophic tightrope: How environmental gradients shape larger symbiont-bearing benthic foraminifera distributions

    Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen, 2, 318

  • 2026/09

    Hughes, D.F., Auliya, M., Chen, P., Hardian, A.B., Hasan, V., Jayanto, H., Nurfi'aini, C., Rahmawati, I.P., Rusli, N., Sukmawati, J.G., Tirtayani, J.V., Moll, E.O.

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    Orlitia borneensis Gray 1873 – Malaysian Giant Turtle, Bornean River Turtle, Kura-Kura Byuku, Kura-Kura Raksasa

    Chelonian research monographs, 20, 5

  • 2026/09

    HUBER, B.A., MENG, G., KMIRA, G.

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    The pholcid spiders of Tunisia (Araneae: Pholcidae): new species, new records, and deep COI divergence in Holocnemus reini

    Zootaxa, 1, 5881

  • 2026/09

    Schmidt-Rhaesa, A.

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    Record of deep-sea Nephasoma constricticervix (Sipuncula, Golfingiidae) from the Guinea Basin (South-East Atlantic)

    Evolutionary Systematics, 2, 10

  • 2026/09

    Engels, I., Dedrie, T., Mo, S.K., Van de Vyver, S., Vandenbroucke, T.R.A., Di Modíca, K., Decher, J., Toso, A., Deforce, D., Daled, S., Burnett, A., Abrams, G., Dhaenens, M.

    Show more...

    Palaeoproteomic Deconvolution of Physical and Genetic Collagen Mixtures

    Advanced Science

  • 2026/09

    Abrha, A.M., Gedeon, K., Podsiadlowski, L., Derso, T.T., Mesele, T., Töpfer, T.

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    Hidden charisma: ethno-ornithological knowledge and attitudes of local communities toward a threatened endemic pheasant in the Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

    Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 1, 22

  • 2026/09

    Hofmann, S., García, E.P., Flecks, M., Jablonski, D., Baniya, C.B., Rödder, D., Schmidt, J.

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    Tracing Ancient Migration Routes: Did Gloydius Pitvipers Disperse Across Paleo‐Tibet Through Temperate and Subtropical Corridors?

    Ecology and Evolution, 9, 16

  • 2026/09

    Böhme, W.

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    Ein echter Transatlantiker der Herpetologie: Zum 65. Geburtstag von Prof. Dr. Aaron M. Bauer

    Sekretär, 2, 26

  • 2026/09

    Jacobs, H.J., Böhme, W.

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    Die nomenklatorische Geschichte des Zipfelkrötenfrosches Megophrys montana Kuhl & van Hasselt, 1822 (Anura: Megophryidae)

    Sekretär, 2, 26

  • 2026/09

    Böhme, W., Koppetsch, T.

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    Die ambivalente Konnotation der Vierstreifennatter, Elaphe quatuorlineata (Lacépède, 1789) im christlichen Kontext

    Sekretär, 2, 26

  • 2026/09

    Böhme, W.

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    Über die Schweizer Biologen – Vater und Sohn – Karl August Friedrich Meisner (1765-1825) und Karl Daniel Friedrich Meisner (1800-1874) und ihren herpetologischen Nachlass

    Sekretär, 2, 26

  • 2026/09

    Tokareva, A., Hansen, A.K., Żyła, D.

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    Tracing the evolution of Lathrobium: A phylogenomic approach using museum specimens

    Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

  • 2026/09

    Dufresnes, C., Gippner, S., Hofmann, S., Strachinis, I., Ambu, J., Skorinov, D.V., Kidov, A.A., Crochet, P., Jablonski, D., Litvinchuk, S.N.

    Show more...

    Recurrent hybridization shapes the diversification of Western Palearctic common toads (Bufobufo complex)

    Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

  • 2026/09

    Halpern, B., Briggs, L., Cogalniceanu, D., Crnobrnja-Isailovic, J., Kirschey, T., Nüsken, U., Poboljsaj, K., Rödder, D., van Doorn, L., Vörös, J., Denoel, M.

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    From plans to ponds: building a future for the Danube Dragon

  • 2026/09

    Wesener, T., Golles, T., Einhaus, M., Rode-White, J.

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    A second population of the Critically Endangered red-legged fire millipede Aphistogoniulus corallipes (de Saussure & Zehntner, 1902) (Spirobolida, Pachybolidae)

    Specimen, 87

  • 2026/09

    Kaiser, H., Bassri, M.

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    Down the mountain: new locality records of the Bluntnosed Viper (Macrovipera lebetina) in Pakistan highlight a previously unrecognized lowland snakebite hazard

    Herpetology Notes

  • 2026/09

    Kaiser, H., Bassri, M.

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    Down the mountain: new locality records of the Bluntnosed Viper (Macrovipera lebetina) in Pakistan highlight a previously unrecognized lowland snakebite hazard

    Herpetology Notes

  • 2026/09

    Jablonski, D., Hofmann, S., Idrees, M., Khan, M.A., Jamal, Q., Böhme, W., Masroor, R.

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    A new species of Heremites Gray, 1845 (Squamata, Scincidae) from the transboundary Hindu Kush foothills

    ZooKeys, 1291

  • 2026/09

    Böhme, W., Frahm, S.

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    Zum innerartlichen Drohverhalten der Indischen Dornschwanzagame, Saara hardwickii (Gray, 1827) (Squamata: Agamidae: Uromastycinae)

    SAURIA – Zeitschrift für Terraristik & Herpetologie, 3, 48

  • 2026/09

    Böhme, W., Hennern, A., Hennern, H.

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    Gibt es in Kannenpflanzen reproduzierende Frösche außer in Südostasien auch in Madagaskar, Nordamerika und Australien?

    SAURIA – Zeitschrift für Terraristik & Herpetologie, 3, 48

  • 2026/09

    Ludreschl, C., Kirse, A., Hartke, T.R., Bhansali, S., Bourlat, S.J., Mayer, C., Ott, D., Bott, F., Rutte, D., Siemt, P., Espeland, M., Scherber, C.

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    Optimised light sources reduce nocturnal insect attraction at railway stations

    Biological conservation, 321

  • 2026/08

    Lilienthal, I., Hausdorf, B., Gorb, S.N., Krings, W.

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    Material Before Morphology: Substrate‐Dependent Mechanical Tuning of Radular Teeth

    Advanced Materials Interfaces, 16, 13

  • 2026/08

    Hausdorf, B., Roosen, M.T., Tapia, E.

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    First records of Habeastrum species from Ecuador (Gastropoda, Diplommatinidae)

    Evolutionary Systematics, 2, 10

  • 2026/08

    CHIBA, H., GRISHIN, N.V., TSUKIYAMA, H., LAMAS, G., HUANG, S.

    Show more...

    Taxonomic review of six Asian Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera) species with name-bearing type specimens studied by Maruyama (1991)

    Zootaxa, 3, 5862

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