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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 25

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

  • 2026/02

    Hofmann, S., Rödder, D., Schmidt, J., Flecks, M., Jablonski, D., Dubois, A., Ohler, A., Baniya, C.B., Vershinin, V., Litvinchuk, S.N., Dufresnes, C.

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    Diversification and historical biogeography of the Himalayan toad (Duttaphrynus himalayanus)

    Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology, 113473, 683

  • 2026/01

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

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    Convergent evolution of failure- and wear-prevention in radulae of rock-scraping land snails (Chondrinidae, Gastropoda)

    Royal Society Open Science, 1, 13

  • 2026/01

    Moreno, C., Koszela, K., Zyla, D.

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    Phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of the termitophilous rove beetle genus Xenogaster Wasmann, 1891 (Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Corotocini)

    Zoological journal of the Linnean Society, 1, 206

  • 2026/01

    JEONG, K., CHOI, Y., HARMS, D., YOO, J., KIM, S.

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    Two new species of Parobisium (Pseudoscorpiones: Neobisiidae) Chamberlin, 1930 from South Korea, with a preliminary phylogeny of the genus

    Zootaxa, 2, 5741

  • 2026/01

    Kaitetzidou, E., Gadawski, P., Goodall-Copestake, W., Dankova, G., Gkagkavouzis, K., Holak, S., Rewicz, T., Bącela-Spychalska, K., Mamos, T., Fantoni, K., Jabłońska, A., Tończyk, G., Trębicki, Ł., Aravanopoulos, F., Bruschini, C., Bonchev, G., Dagher Kharrat, M.B., Čiampor Jr, F., Costa, F., Dapporto, L., Ekrem, T., Ferreira, S., Geiger, M., Hausmann, A., Hebert, P., Kalamujić Stroil, B., Kamenova, S., Kautmanova, I., Keskin, E., Kučinić, M., Lipinskaya, T., Mutanen, M., Papakostas, S., Price, B., Ramírez, R., Rougerie, R., Rulik, B., Szucsich, N., van der Bank, M., Triantafyllidis, A., Hollingsworth, P., Grabowski, M.

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    Empowering national capacity for DNA-based approach to species identification and biodiversity monitoring

  • 2026/01

    Brito, J., Vargas, R., Tinoco, N., García, R., Carrión-Olmedo, J.C., Koch, C., Wistuba, R., Nivelo-Villavicencio, C., Pardiñas, U.F.J.

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    Mountains of diversity: a systematic revision of the Andean rodent genus Oreoryzomys (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae)

    PeerJ, 14

  • 2026/01

    Ginal, P., Ecker, Y., Higham, T., Grismer, L.L., Wipfler, B., Rödder, D., Russell, A., Riedel, J.

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    Subdigital integumentary microstructure in Cyrtodactylus (Squamata: Gekkota): do those lineages with incipiently expressed toepads exclusively exhibit adhesive setae?

    Beilstein journal of nanotechnology, 17

  • 2026/01

    Parmar, D., Kaiser, H.

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    Whither Dendrelaphis in western India? A critique of recent papers by Vaishnav and Ghadi (2025) and Puranik et al. (2025)

    Reptiles&Amphibians, 1, 33

  • 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

    Burckhardt, D., Haseen, C., He, Z., Luo, X., Pramatarova, M., Grimaud, S., Hussain, B., Song, F., Serbina, L.

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    Species concepts in the psyllid genus Camarotoscena (Hemiptera, Psylloidea) associated with Populus (Salicaceae)

    Alpine Entomology, 9

  • 2025/12

    MALENOVSKÝ, I., SERBINA, L., QUEIROZ, D.L.

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    Life on sticky plants: two new species of Mitrapsylla (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Psyllidae) on Chamaecrista (Fabaceae) in the Brazilian Highlands

    Zootaxa, 1, 5727

  • 2025/12

    New ultrastructural (SEM) data of Tubiluchus arcticus (Priapulida)

    Verhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins in Hamburg, 55

  • 2025/12

    Lehnert, K., Bethune, E., Schulz-Kornas, E., Siebert, U., Kaiser, T.M.

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    Intra-specific foraging dynamics reveal anthropogenic impact on harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in the Danish Kattegat and the German Wadden Sea

    Frontiers in Marine Science, 12

  • 2025/12

    Erfani, M., Abtin, E., Mobaraki, A., Kami, H.G., Pandi, D., Stevenson, C., Ziegler, T., Rödder, D., De Silva, A., Whitaker, N., Le, M.D., Samarasinghe, D., Vasava, A., Karunarathana, S.

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    Nuchal scalation patterns in Iranian Mugger crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris Lesson, 1831) point to an overlooked conservation unit.

    Journal of wildlife and biodiversity, 4, 9

  • 2025/12

    de Santis, M.D., Mengual, X.

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    A new species of Ptilodexia (Diptera: Tachinidae: Dexiinae) from Ecuador, with a key to the South American species

    Integrative Systematics Stuttgart Contributions to Natural History, 2, 8

  • 2025/12

    Hallermann, J.

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    A second addition to the herpetological type catalogue of the Zoological Museum of Hamburg (ZMH)

    Evolutionary Systematics, 2, 9

  • 2025/12

    OUVRARD, D., SERBINA, L., AGUIAR, A., DROHOJOWSKA, J., HALBERT, S.E., RAMAN, A., SHARMA, A., MASEKO, Z., MAUDA, E., DUARTE, B.Z., CHO, G., RENDÓN-MERA, D.I., YANG, M., PERCY, D.M., ZÜRCHER-PFANDER, I., MALENOVSKÝ, I., BASTIN, S., QUEIROZ, D.L.

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    Daniel H. Burckhardt at 70—an appreciation

    Zootaxa, 1, 5727

  • 2025/12

    Arribas, O., Böhme, W., Ineich, I., Jiang, J.

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    Greetings to the IX. Meeting of the A.M.- Nikolsky Herpetological Society, devoted to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ilya Sergeyevich Darevsky, and the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences. – Pp. 124-127 in: Doronin, I.V., Konstantinova, J.L., Mazanayeva, L.F. & N.B. Ananyeva (eds.): IX syezd Gerpetologicheskogo obshchestva A.M. Nikolskogo pri Rossiskoy Akademii nauk (Rossiya, g. Kaluga, 7 – 12 oktobryá 2024 g.) / IX Meeting of A.M. Nikolsky Herpetological Society (Russia, Kaluga, October 7 – 12, 2025. - Sovremyennaya Gerpetologiya / Current Studies in Herpetology, 25(3/4): 121-127.

  • 2025/12

    Jankowiak, Ł., Hoffmann, A., Decher, J., Szkudlarek, M., Eccel, N., Popiel, P., Malinowska, B., Sęk, O., Rychlik, L.

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    Wooden or metal: live-trap type preferences of small mammals in relation to habitat, taxon, and sex

    Mammalian Biology

  • 2025/12

    Daluwatta Galappaththige, H.S.S., McLean, D.J., Hämäläinen, L., Dharmarathne, C., Herberstein, M.E.

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    Predictors of Wing Attacks by Birds Across Australian Butterflies

    Ecology and Evolution, 12, 15

  • 2025/12

    Auliya, M., Gautam, K.B.

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    2024-2025 Report of the Monitor Lizard Specialist Group. In: IUCN SSC and Secretariat. Species: Annual Report of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and Secretariat 2024-2025. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. 8 pp.

  • 2025/12

    Rösler, H., Ineich, I., Avila-Pires, T.C.S., Hoogmoed, M.S., Kaiser, H.

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    Case 3798 – Gymnodactylus humeralis Guichenot, 1855 (currently Gonatodes humeralis; Reptilia, Sphaerodactylidae): proposed conservation of the specific name by suppression of Gymnodactylus timoriensis Duméril & Bibron, 1836

    The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, 1, 82

  • 2025/12

    Horta-Lacueva, Q., Uller, T., Flecks, M., Gabelaia, M., Hipsley, C.A., Kirchner, M., Müller, J., Feiner, N.

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    Neural crest cell biology shapes lizard skull evolution across evolutionary time scales

    Evolution Letters

  • 2025/12

    Poudyal, L.P., Rajak, B.R., Tamang, K., Chokhal, K., Chaudhary, H., Ghimire, M., Baral, H.S., Wood, J., Baral, S.

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    Population density of cheer pheasant (Catreus wallichii) in Lower Kali Gandaki Valley of Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

    Nepalese Journal of Zoology, 2, 9

  • 2025/12

    Ahrens, D., Pham, P.V.

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    A new Trioserica species from Ko Kut Island, Thailand (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Sericinae)

    Nak jaṃnāñ khāng pāṇakasāstr Iṇḍūcin =, 88, 1

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