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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 24

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

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

  • 2026/01

    Bañeras, T., Jiménez-Alvarado, D., Meyers, E.K.M., Toledo-Padilla, H., Hardisson, A., Gonzalez-Weller, D., Barker, J., Mead, L.R., Espino-Ruano, A., Castro-Alonso, A., José-Caballero, M., Gutiérrez, Á.

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    Characterization of metal contaminants in the Critically Endangered angelshark (Squatina squatina): A first ecotoxicological insight

    Marine Pollution Bulletin, 222

  • 2025

  • 2025/12

    Van de Meutter, F., Bot, S., Mortelmans, J., Mengual, X.

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    New hoverfly records for Greece with the description of a new species of Cheilosia (Diptera, Syrphidae)

    Boletín de la Asociación Española de Entomología/Boletín de la Asociación Española de Entomología/Suplementos del Boletín de la Asociación Española de Entomología, 3-4, 49

  • 2025/11

    de Santis, M.D., de Dios, R.V.P., Lamas, C.J.E., Mengual, X.

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    Contribution to the Neotropical Campylochetini: A review of Campylocheta Rondani, 1859 (Diptera: Tachinidae) with new synonyms, three new species and an identification key to Neotropical species

    Austral Entomology, 4, 64

  • 2025/10

    Kempel, A., Adamidis, G.C., Anadón, J.D., Atkinson, J., Auge, H., Avtzis, D., Bachelot, B., Bashirzadeh, M., Bota, J.L., Classen, A., Constantinou, I., Crawley, M., de Bellis, T., Dostal, P., Ebeling, A., Eisenhauer, N., Eldridge, D.J., Encina, G., Estrada, C., Everingham, S., Fanin, N., Feng, Y., Gaspar, M., Gooriah, L., Graff, P., Montalván, E.G., Montalván, P.G., Hartke, T.R., Huang, L., Jochum, M., Kaljund, K., Karmiris, I., Koorem, K., Korell, L., Laine, A., le Provost, G., Lessard, J., Liu, M., Liu, X., Liu, Y., Llancabure, J., Loïez, S., Loydi, A., Marrero, H., Gockel, S., Montoya, A., Münzbergová, Z., Niu, Y., Ott, D., Oyarzabal, M., Panitsa, M., Papatheodorou, E., Piper, F.I., Püssa, K., Rand, K., Saiz, H., Sanders, N.J., Schädler, M., Scherber, C., Semchenko, M., Sepp, S., Shah, M.A., Shaheen, I., Stein, C., Stewart, J., Tang, Z., Tschan, G., van Nouhuys, S., Vandegehuchte, M.L., Vernon, M., V. R., S., Wang, J., Xiao, Y., Xystrakis, F., Yang, J., Yang, S., Zografou, K., Allan, E.

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    The Bug‐Network (BugNet): A Global Experimental Network Testing the Effects of Invertebrate Herbivores and Fungal Pathogens on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Function in Open Ecosystems

    Ecology and Evolution, 10, 15

  • 2025/10

    Bhusal, D.R., Kharel (Sitaula), R., Shrestha, B.R., Baral, S., Pandey, B., Pathak, P., Kumar, B., Karki, P., Joshi, S.N., Sharma, A.K., Upadhya, M.P.

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    Landscape Heterogeneity and Changing Bioclimatic Parameters Link to Potential Expansion of Gazalina chrysolopha (Lepidoptera; Notodontidae) in Nepal: A Possible Bioagent for Seasonal Hyperacute Panuveitis (SHAPU) in South Asia

    Ecology and Evolution, 10, 15

  • 2025/10

    Krings, W., Brütt, J., Gorb, S.N.

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    Correction: Elemental analyses reveal distinct mineralization patterns in radular teeth of various molluscan taxa

    Scientific reports, 1, 15

  • 2025/10

    Freitas, A.V.L., Kaminski, L.A., Magaldi, L.M., Gueratto, P.E., Silva-Brandão, K.L., Francini, R.B., Paluch, M., Tavares, E.V., de Medeiros Melo, A.B.

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    A New Actinote Hübner (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Heliconiinae: Acraeini) from Northeastern Brazil

    Neotropical Entomology, 1, 54

  • 2025/10

    Four new species of Neischnocolus (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Theraphosidae) from Western Ecuador

    Zootaxa, 4, 5706

  • 2025/10

    Bot, S., Mengual, X., Van de Meutter, F., Skevington, J.H.

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    Review of the genus Cheilosia Meigen, 1822 (Diptera: Syrphidae) from the Caucasus, with the description of 14 new species

    European Journal of Taxonomy, 1, 1023

  • 2025/10

    Bisschop, J., Fisler, L., Pétremand, G., Mengual, X.

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    A hoverfly survey in the inner alpine municipality of Bergün-Filisur (Switzerland) by means of variable route sampling (Diptera, Syrphidae)

    Alpine Entomology, 9

  • 2025/10

    Kukla, Y., Riedel, J., Rödder, D.

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    Sticky Innovation, Limited Expansion: Biogeography and Evolutionary Ecology of Toepads in Geckos

    Journal of Biogeography

  • 2025/10

    Böhme, W., Denzer, W., Wüster, W.

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    Noli tangere nomina probata! Taxonomists must prioritise stability and protection of well-established scientific names in herpetology

    Salamandra, 4, 61

  • 2025/10

    Ginal, P., Hackenbroch, H., Le Manh, H., Nguyen, T.Q., Le, M.D., Rödder, D., Ziegler, T.

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    Assessment of the threat status of bird species from Vietnam – Implementation of the One Plan Approach to conservation

    Nature Conservation, 60

  • 2025/10

    Daluwatta Galappaththige, H.S.S., Fernandes Erickson, M., McLean, D.J., L'Herpiniere, K.L., Binns, G.E., Hämäläinen, L., O'Neill, L.G., Douch, J.K., Kikuchi, D.W., Rowland, H.M., Mappes, J., Herberstein, M.E.

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    Complementary approaches to measure predation pressure on butterfly populations in Australia

    Royal Society Open Science, 10, 12

  • 2025/09

    Chrysostomakis, I., Mozer, A., Bruno Di-Nizo, C., Fischer, D., Sargheini, N., von der Mark, L., Huettel, B., Astrin, J.J., Töpfer, T., Böhne, A.

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    A high-quality reference genome for the Ural Owl (Strix uralensis) enables investigations of cell cultures as a genomic resource for endangered species

    Gigascience

  • 2025/09

    Tokareva, A., Żyła, D.

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    Insights for the subtribal-level phylogenetic reconstructions in Paederinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae): a study on mesoventral plate with elements of comparative morphology

    Arthropod Structure & Development, 88

  • 2025/09

    Denzer, W., Dondorp, E., Kaiser, H., Wüster, W.

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    Notes on the type series of the Javan Spitting Cobra, Naja sputatrix Boie, 1827, and designation of a lectotype for Naja tripudians sondaica Schlegel, 1844

    Zootaxa, 4, 5679

  • 2025/09

    Pillai, R.R., Riedel, J., Wirth, W., Allen-Ankins, S., Nordberg, E., Edwards, W., Schwarzkopf, L.

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    What’s the point? The functional role of claws in pad-bearing taxa (Gekkota: Diplodactylidae)

    Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2054, 292

  • 2025/09

    Haque, M.T., Paul, S., Herberstein, M.E., Khan, M.K.

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    A parasitic or mutualistic conundrum: can symbiotic protists increase thermal tolerance in a semi-aquatic insect?

    Royal Society Open Science, 9, 12

  • 2025/09

    Rösler, H., Böhme, W.

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    Friedrich Wilhelm Christophel (1913 – 1985) – Buchhändler, Schriftsteller und sein Beitrag zur Phelsumenkunde als Terrarianer

  • 2025/09

    Bot, S., Hofstee, L., Mengual, X.

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    Updated checklist of hover flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) of the Azores archipelago with taxonomic notes and the description of a new species, Eristalis azorensis sp. nov.

    Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae, 1, 65

  • 2025/09

    Harms, D., McRae, J., Curran, M., Harvey, M.S.

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    Identifying refugia for invertebrate conservation in biodiversity hotspots: examples from a new genus of dragon pseudoscorpions (Pseudotyrannochthoniidae: Karrichthonius)

    Invertebrate Systematics, 9, 39

  • 2025/09

    Wüster, W., Böhme, W., Denzer, W., Kaiser, H.

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    Nomenclatural historians are kindly requested to respect the intent of the Code: “Nomenclatural parsimony” and the case of the Nose-horned Viper, Vipera

    Zootaxa, 5696

  • 2025/09

    Schmidt-Loske, K.

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    Maria Sibylla Merian in/en Surinam. Von der ungewöhnlichen Forschungsreise einer außerordentlichen Frau an der Schwelle zum 18. Jahrhundert. Sobre el insólito viaje de investigación de una extraordinaria mujer en el umbra del siglo XVII. Kipu-Verlag, Bielefeld 2025

  • 2025/09

    Sabatinelli, G., Pham, P.V., Ahrens, D.

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    Dedalopterus huongae new species from northern Vietnam (Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Leucopholini)

    Faunitaxys - Revue de Faunistique, Taxonomie et Systématique morphologique et moléculaire, 43, 13

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