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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 27

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

  • 2026/09

    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

    Kaiser, H., Zdunek, P.

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    Air conditioning units as death traps for introduced Common House Geckos, Hemidactylus frenatus Duméril & Bibron, 1836, on Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, with a discussion of impacts

    Discover Life, 1, 56

  • 2026/08

    Ha, L.T.T., Nguyen, T.H., Nguyen, T.V., Pham, C.T., Phan, T.Q., Nguyen, T.Q., Tran, D.V., Ziegler, T., Rödder, D., Ngo, H.N.

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    Projected contraction of climatically suitable habitat for the forest-specialist anuran Quasipaa acanthophora under climate change in northern Vietnam

    Herpetozoa, 39

  • 2026/08

    Sá Sampaio, M., Almeida, S., Madeira, F., Neves, R., Rödder, D., Sousa, M., Rebelo, R.

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    From widespread invasion to isolated refugia: progress towards eradication of Xenopus laevis in Portugal

  • 2026/08

    Böhme, W., Mutz, T.

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    In dubio pro Salamandra. On the generic allocation of Laurenti’s (1768) Proteus tritonius (Caudata: Salamandridae): Response to Gollman & Gollmann (2026)

    Salamandra, 3, 62

  • 2026/08

    Lukic, D., Petersen, M., Patel, J., Krovi, R.S., Ahrens, D., Gerstmeier, R., Eberle, J.

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    Exploring the Quality of Historic From Pinned Beetles

    Ecology and Evolution, 8, 16

  • 2026/08

    Cota, M., Kaiser, H.

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    Some observations on communal nesting, nest-guarding, parental care, social organisation, and territoriality in wild Gekko gecko (Linnaeus, 1758) in Thailand

    Herpetology Notes, 19

  • 2026/08

    Kaiser, I.M., Kaiser, C., Kaiser, H.

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    From myths to metrics: a preliminary new look at measuring coiled, preserved snakes

    Herpetology Notes, 19

  • 2026/08

    Kedzier-Hurst, R., Kaiser, H.

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    Tails of two tips: first reports of tail furcations in a dozen Australian skink species, with the description of a highly unusual tail duplication morphology in Carlia longipes (Macleay, 1877)

    Herpetology Notes, 19

  • 2026/08

    Fischbach, V., Dahlke, F.T., Kotterba, P., Pinto, G., Moll, D., Moritz, T., Polte, P.

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    Thermal tolerance of herring (Clupea harengus) early embryogenesis in relation to temporal temperature dynamics in the Baltic Sea

    Journal of Thermal Biology, 140

  • 2026/08

    Samotskaya, V.

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    В том дереве слева! Как увидеть и полюбить птиц (a nonfiction book in Russian)

  • 2026/07

    MAHECHA-J., O., FÅHRAEUS, C., DÍAZ-S., V., BOYER, P., GARLACZ, R., ANDRADE-C., M.G., JAIME, O., VEGA, Y., ESPELAND, M., PYRCZ, T.W.

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    Hidden diversity among Andean timberline endemics: integrative taxonomy of the Pedaliodes empusa clade from the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Satyrinae, Pronophilina)

    Zootaxa, 1, 5857

  • 2026/07

    Schneider, J.A., Salden, T., Moser, M., Peters, R.S.

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    kretschmanni’s global relatives: The Aphanogmus species with spiny sternite females (Hymenoptera, Ceraphronidae)

    ZooKeys, 1286

  • 2026/07

    Krings, W., Uhlmann, L., Wägele, H., Gorb, N.S.

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    Vanadium in the radular teeth of the Antarctic Aegires albus (Nudibranchia)

    Biointerphases, 21

  • 2026/07

    Oeyen, J.P., Moritz, L., Wesener, T.

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    Origins of the northern microrefugial populations of the giant centipede Scolopendra cingulata Latreille, 1829 revealed (Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha, Scolopendridae)

    Evolutionary Systematics, 2, 10

  • 2026/07

    Kast, S., Moritz, T., Ahnelt, H.

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    Does phylogenetic conservatism obscure the trophic ecology of the Small-Eyed Goby Austrolethops wardi Whitley, 1935 (Teleostei, Gobiidae), an inhabitant of shrimp burrows?

    Annals of the Natural History Museum Vienna, 127

  • 2026/07

    Miguel, A.R., Kaiser, H., Briers-Louw, W.D., Kendon, T.A., Ngalijuane, D.A., dos Santos, T.G.

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    Fisherman’s trash, cobra’s treasure: first evidence of scavenging by a Brown Forest Cobra, Naja subfulva Laurent, 1955, in Mozambique

    Herpetology Notes, 19

  • 2026/07

    Dupérré, N., Tapia, E., Salazar-Valenzuela, D.

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    New Theraphosinae from Ecuador: description of five species (Mygalomorphae, Theraphosidae, Romopelma, and Homoeomma) with the establishment of a new genus

    Evolutionary Systematics, 2, 10

  • 2026/07

    Krings, W., Schreiber, Henrik K.C., Gorb, S.N.

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    Effects of ocean acidification on radular tooth material properties in Littorina littorea (Gastropoda, Mollusca)

    Marine Environmental Research, 219

  • 2026/06

    Mengual, X.

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    Comentario de libro: SCHMIDT-LOSKE, K., 2025. Maria Sibylla Merian en Surinam. Sobre el insólito viaje de investigación de una extraordinaria mujer en el umbral del siglo XVIII. Traducción: ARIAS MORENO, M. L. Kipu-Verlag. 132 pp. Libro impreso ISBN: 978-3-946507-86-4. Ebook ISBN: 978-3-946507-87-1.

    Boletín de la Asociación Española de Entomología/Boletín de la Asociación Española de Entomología/Suplementos del Boletín de la Asociación Española de Entomología, 1-2, 50

  • 2026/06

    HUANG, S., HORIE, K., MÜLLER, G.C., MARTIN, G., ESPELAND, M.

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    Revision of the subfamily Callizygaeninae (Lepidoptera, Zygaenoidea, Zygaenidae)

    Zootaxa, 2, 5839

  • 2026/06

    Schwarze, M., Schulz, M., Sielenkämper, J., Ott, D., Rödder, D., Scherber, C.

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    Anteil dunkelgrau gefärbter Kreuzottern von 2010–2024 in einem Moor in Nordwestdeutschland. Feldherpetologisches Magazin

    Feldherpetologisches Magazin, 23

  • 2026/06

    Muller, B., Midgley, J., Goergen, G., Al Jahdhami, A., Azo'o Ela, M., Bellingan, T., Cavaillès, S., Copeland, R., De Meyer, M., Hauser, M., Holmes, A., Mengual, X., Nève, G., Reemer, M., Skevington, J., Ståhls, G., Sinzinkayo, E., Smit, J., Ssymank, A., Theron, G., Jordaens, K.

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    Invasion Patterns and Niche Dynamics of the Pollinivorous Florida Calligrapher, Toxomerus floralis (Diptera: Syrphidae) in the Afrotropical Region

    Ecology and Evolution, 6, 16

  • 2026/06

    Böhme, W.

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    Zur mythologischen Symbolik des Weißstorches – und warum der Göttervater Zeus sich anders entschied. – Koenigiana 20: 29–36.

  • 2026/06

    Böhme, W.

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    Erneut gefragt: Was ist Kryptozoologie? Entdeckungen neuer Arten oder Merkmale, die indigenen oder gar antiken Hinweisgebern längst bekannt waren. - Koenigiana 20: 3-22.

    Koenigiana, 20

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