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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

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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    2025

  • 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

  • 2025/08

    Harms, D., Hagen, M., Kotthoff, U., Loria, S.

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    New species of Lechytia Balzan, 1892 (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) from Burmese amber highlights 99 million years of morphological stasis

    Cretaceous Research, 127

  • 2025/08

    NGUYEN, E., MATZKE, D., FEDERSPIEL, M., PETERS, C., HUSEMANN, M.

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    An annotated type catalogue of earwigs (Dermaptera) in the Zoological Museum Hamburg (ZMH)

    Zootaxa, 4, 5673

  • 2025/07

    Rai, T.P., Kaiser, C., Kaiser, H.

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    Amplexus between frogs in different families: a microhylid Nilphamarai Narrow-mouthed Frog, Microhyla nilphamariensis Howlader et al., 2015, grasps a Terai Cricket Frog, Minervarya teraiensis (Dubois, 1984), in Nepal

    Herpetology Notes, 18

  • 2025/07

    Albert, J.S., Abrahão, V., Akin, D.R., Andrade, M., Arce, M., Armbruster, J.W., Benine, R., Bernt, M.J., Bichuette, M.E., Birindelli, J., Bragança, P., Britto, M.R., Buckup, P.A., Burns, M.D., Calegari, B.B., Carvalho, F.G., Carvalho, T.P., Casatti, L., Costa, W., Crampton, W.G.R., da Costa Ramos, R., da Silva, R.G., Dagosta, F., Egan, J., Fernandez, L., Fitzgerald, D., Fontanelle, J.P., Hrbek, T., Langeani, F., Lehmann, P., Leitão, R.P., Lima, F.C.T., Loeb, M.V., Lucena, C.A.S., Lucinda, P.H.F., Lujan, N.K., Malabarba, L.R., Matamoros, W.A., Melo, B.F., Netto-Ferreira, A., Pavanelli, C.S., Peilicice, F.M., Pereira, E.H.L., Rocha, M., Roxo, F., Sant' Anna, V., Shibatta, O., Slobobdian, V., Stange, M., Tagliacollo, V.A., Tan, M., Torgersen, K.T., Winemiller, K.O., Reis, R.E.

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    An ecological trait matrix of Neotropical freshwater fishes

    Scientific data, 12

  • 2025/07

    Böhme, W., Koppetsch, T., Gabelaia, M., Wipfler, B.

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    Fakultatives Eierlegen bei lebendgebärenden Waldeidechsenweibchen, Zootoca vivipara (Lichtenstein, 1823) (Squamata: Lacertidae), in der Kleinen Ungarischen Tiefebene

    SAURIA – Zeitschrift für Terraristik & Herpetologie, 2, 47

  • 2025/07

    Abrha, A.M., Rödder, D., Gedeon, K., Podsiadlowski, L., Töpfer, T.

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    Evaluating the impact of climate change on mountaintop endemic bird species in the Ethiopian highlands: insights from moorland francolin (Scleroptila psilolaema)

    Ornithology Research, 1, 33

  • 2025/07

    MENGUAL, X., HAUSER, M.

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    Atriadops Wandolleck, 1897 (Diptera: Nemestrinidae) recorded for the first time from Ecuador

    Zootaxa, 4, 5660

  • 2025/07

    Koch, A.

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    Vom politischen Mythos der „Bundesgiraffe(n)“ … und anderen hohen Tieren im Museum Koenig Bonn

  • 2025/07

    Jaume-Schinkel, S., Kilian, I.C., Pazmiño-Palomino, A., Mengual, X.

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    Revision of the genus Bryopharsos Quate, 1996 (Diptera: Psychodidae) with the description of nine new species

    European Journal of Taxonomy, 1001

  • 2025/07

    Epstein, M.E., Dupont, S.T., Garzón-Orduña, I.J., Solovyev, A.V., Pierce, N.E., Espeland, M.

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    Phylogeny and reclassification of Limacodidae worldwide, with emphasis on the ontogeny of larval defenses (Lepidoptera: Zygaenoidea)

    Insect Systematics and Diversity, 4, 9

  • 2025/07

    Miguel, A.R., Kaiser, H., Vargas, N.D., Borges-Martins, M.

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    Assessing amphibian richness in coastal habitats of Gilé National Park, northern Mozambique, with a key to species identification

    Herpetology Notes, 18

  • 2025/07

    Böhme, W.

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    Krokodile, die nächsten lebenden Verwandten der Vögel

    Koenigiana, 19

  • 2025/07

    Ullenbruch Jr., K., Böhme, W.

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    Eine Rettungsmission per Kleinbus in die algerische Sahara – mit dem VW-Bus des Museum Koenig unterwegs in Nordafrika

    Koenigiana, 19

  • 2025/07

    Schmidt-Loske, K.

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    Buchbesprechung: Böhme, Wolfgang 2025 Von Kiel nach Bonn und anderswohin: Auto- und Allobiographisches, mit herpetologischem Fokus. Mertensiella (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde (DGHT e.V.), Nummer 34, 376 S., ISSN 0934-6643, ISBN978-3-945043-48-6. Koenigiana 19: 77-78

  • 2025/07

    Schmidt-Loske, K., Xylander, W., Serangeli, J.

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    Wie wild wollen wir unsere Natur? Gedanken, Konzepte und praktische Erfahrungen zur „Neuen Wildnis“

  • 2025/07

    Mead, L.R., Piper, A., Alvarado, D.J., Meyers, E., Barker, J., Toledo-Padilla, H., Herraiz, E., Campoamor, A.F., Sealey, M., Caro, M.B., Bañeras, T., Pike, C., Gollock, M., Ravina-Olivares, F., Jacoby, D.M.P.

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    Rapid Ocean Warming Drives Sexually Divergent Habitat Use in a Threatened Predatory Marine Ectotherm

    Global Change Biology, 2025; 31:e70331

  • 2025/07

    Mengual, X., Hodecek, J., Dankowicz, Z.R., Schusteff, A.

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    A new species of the wasp mimic flower fly genus Monoceromyia Shannon, 1922 (Diptera: Syrphidae) from the Dominican Republic

    Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 1, 127

  • 2025/07

    DÍAZ-GUEVARA, D.R., DUPÉRRÉ, N.

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    A web of canopy discoveries part I (Araneae: Araneidae). New astonishing species of orb-weaving spiders from Ecuador and the first country record of Pozonia Schenkel, 1953

    Zootaxa, 4, 5660

  • 2025/07

    Nedeljković, Z., Mengual, X., Ricarte, A.

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    Revision of the North African Hoverflies of the Genus Xanthogramma Schiner, 1861 (Diptera: Syrphidae), with Description of a New Species

    Insects, 8, 16

  • 2025/07

    Hausdorf, B., Tapia, E., Monteiro, R., Böhne, A., Marcussen, T., Struck, T., Oomen, R.A., Wellcome Sanger Institute Tree of Life Management, Samples and Laboratory team, ., Wellcome Sanger Institute Scientific Operations: Sequencing Operations, ., Wellcome Sanger Institute Tree of Life Core Informatics team, ., Haggerty, L., Martin, F., Brown, T.

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    ERGA-BGE genome of Anisus vorticulus (Troschel, 1834): the Lesser Ramshorn Snail, an endangered freshwater snail protected under the EU's Habitats and Species Directive

    Open Research Europe, 5

  • 2025/07

    De La Quintana, P., Solé, M.

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    Oxyrhopus in Bahia, Brazil: Pholidosis, maturity, sexual dimorphism, and reproduction

    Acta Herpetologica, 21

  • 2025/07

    Toussaint, E.F.A., Condamine, F.L., dos Santos De Carvalho, A.P., Plotkin, D.M., Ellis, E.A., Dexter, K.M., Earl, C., Aduse-Poku, K., Braby, M.F., Chiba, H., Gott, R.J., Maruyama, K., Morais, A.B., Müller, C.J., Peggie, D., Sáfián, S., Vila, R., Warren, A.D., Yago, M., Breinholt, J.W., Espeland, M., Pierce, N.E., Lohman, D.J., Kawahara, A.Y.

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    Global climate cooling spurred skipper butterfly diversification

    Systematic Biology

  • 2025/07

    Sperling, K., Isselhard, H., Ziegler, T., Rödder, D.

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    Amphibians and Reptiles of Ethiopia—Biogeography, Conservation Priority Areas, and Potentials for “One Plan Approach” Conservation Measures

    Integrative Conservation

  • 2025/06

    DE SOUZA AMORIM, D., BROWN, B.V., ANG, Y., BALBI, M.I.P.A., BHATTARAI, S.S., ALE-ROCHA, R., CAPELLARI, R.S., CARMO, D.D.D., DE CARVALHO, C.J.B., COURI, M.S., FACHIN, D.A., FLORES, H.F., GOMES, M., KORNEYEV, V., LONSDALE, O., MARINHO, M.A.T., MENGUAL, X., NORRBOM, A.L., OTT, T.M., RAFAEL, J.A., RICCARDI, P.R., RUNG, A., SANTOS, J.R., SEPULVEDA, T.A., SKEVINGTON, J.H., STUKE, J., SILVA, V.C.

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    Diptera (Hexapoda) diversity in the Shivapuri Mountain Range, Nepal — a rather unexpected Oriental fauna above 1,800 m

    Journal of Insect Biodiversity, 1, 66

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