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Our task
In addition to the live animals in the exhibition area (Water - Life in the River), the Museum Koenig also houses a scientific live animal facility. In modern terrarium and aquarium facilities, lower vertebrates (fish, amphibians and reptiles) and various invertebrates are kept and bred for research purposes. Keeping live animals enables investigations that are difficult to carry out in the wild and thus provides important findings, e.g. on behavioural and reproductive biology, larval development or functional morphology. The information obtained in this way supports collection-based research and field work on taxonomic and evolutionary biology issues, but also helps to protect species by collecting useful data for conservation breeding programmes or for the protection of natural populations.
Fish
The focus of research in the aquaria is on Southeast Asian fishes from Sulawesi. Current projects are investigating the functional and ecomorphology of an adaptive radiation of the sunray fishes of Sulawesi, especially their jaw apparatus and its effect on feeding behaviour, as well as the evolution of the unique reproductive strategy of rice fishes, which is being explored by means of breeding lines.
Frogs
In amphibians, research focusses on the developmental biology of tropical frogs, their larval development, comparative larval morphology and bioacoustics.
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Contact person
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- Head of Vertebrate Department
- Head of Section Ichthyology
Phone: +49 228 9122 255
E-Mail: f.herder@leibniz-lib.de
Projects
There are currently no projects available
Publications
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2026/06
Ancient and Recent Riverine Gene Flow Contributed to the Adaptive Radiation of Sailfin Silversides in Wallace's Dreampond
Molecular Ecology, 11, 35
2026/05
Ancient and recent riverine gene flow contributed to the adaptive radiation of sailfin silversides in Wallace's Dreampond
Molecular Ecology
2026/03
Determinants of Terrestrial and Limnic Species Richness in Germany
Diversity and Distributions, 3, 32
2026/01
Recommendation of scientific fish husbandry: Sulawesi ricefishes (Beloniformes, Adrianichthyidae)
Bulletin of Fish Biology, 1, 21
2025/12
Sulawesi Stream Fish Communities Disconnected From the Sea: Absence of Diadromous and Dominance of Exotic Species
Freshwater biology, 12, 70
2025/04
Multiple instances of river-lake introgression in the adaptive radiation of sailfin silversides in Wallace’s Dreampond
2025/03
Increased phenotypic diversity as a consequence of ecological opportunity in the island radiation of Sulawesi ricefishes (Teleostei: Adrianichthyidae)
BMC Ecology and Evolution, 1, 25
2025/02
A new and unique species of ricefish (Teleostei: Adrianichthyidae: Oryzias) from the Lariang River Basin, Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the first known sympatric ricefish species pair from Sulawesi rivers
Ichthyology & Herpetology, 1, 113
2025/02
Sulawesi stream fish communities depend on connectivity and habitat diversity
Journal of Fish Biology, 106
2025/01
A Graphical Key for the Identifi cation of German Freshwater Fishes - Grafischer Bestimmungsschlüssel für die Süßwasserfische Deutschlands
Bulletin of Fish Biology, 20
2023/10
A landmark‐free analysis of the pelvic girdle in Sulawesi ricefishes (Adrianichthyidae): How 2D and 3D geometric morphometrics can complement each other in the analysis of a complex structure
Ecology and Evolution, 10, 13
2023/08
Potential contribution of ancient introgression to the evolution of a derived reproductive strategy in ricefishes
Genome biology and evolution, 8, 15
2023/02
Taphonomy of the teleost Tselfatia formosa Arambourg, 1943 from Vallecillo, NE Mexico
PloS one, 2, 18
2022/12
DNA barcoding unveils a high diversity of caddisflies (Trichoptera) in the Mount Halimun Salak National Park (West Java; Indonesia)
PeerJ, 10
2022/12
Functional morphology of prey capture in stream-dwelling sailfin silversides (Telmatherinidae) based on high-speed video recordings
Zoomorphology, 3-4, 141
2022/10
How to stay attached—Formation of the ricefish plug and changes of internal reproductive structures in the pelvic brooding ricefish, Oryzias eversi Herder et al. (2012) (Beloniformes: Adrianichthyidae)
Journal of morphology, 11, 283
2022/06
A new endemic species of pelvic-brooding ricefish (Beloniformes: Adrianichthyidae: Oryzias) from Lake Kalimpa'a, Sulawesi, Indonesia
Bonn zoological bulletin, 1, 71
2022/04
The genetic basis of a novel reproductive strategy in Sulawesi ricefishes: How modularity and a low number of loci shape pelvic brooding
Evolution, 5, 76
2022/03
More non-native fish species than natives, and an invasion of Malawi cichlids, in ancient Lake Poso, Sulawesi, Indonesia
Aquatic Invasions, 1, 17
2022/02
Inflammation and convergent placenta gene co-option contributed to a novel reproductive tissue
Current Biology, 3, 32
2022/01
A fish-parasitic isopod (Cymothoidae) on the pachyrhizodont Goulmimichthys roberti from the lower Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) Vallecillo plattenkalk, NE Mexico
Cretaceous Research, 129
2021/12
Complex sexually dimorphic traits shape the parallel evolution of a novel reproductive strategy in Sulawesi ricefishes (Adrianichthyidae)
BMC ecology and evolution, 21
2021/11
Sexual dimorphism in an adaptive radiation: Does intersexual niche differentiation result in ecological character displacement?
Ecology and Evolution, 21, 11
2021/08
Ecological variation drives morphological differentiation in a highly social vertebrate
Functional ecology, 10, 35
2021/05
Integrative approach to resolve the Calotes mystaceus Duméril & Bibron, 1837 species complex (Squamata: Agamidae)
Bonn zoological bulletin, 1, 70
2026
2025
2023
2022
2021
Employees
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Dipl. Biol. Timo Hartmann
ztm Animal husbandry Herpetology Bonn Animal keeperPhone: +49 228 9122 274
E-mail: t.hartmann@leibniz-lib.de/leibniz-lib.de/fileadmin/user_upload/home/Bilder/LIB/Ueber_das_LIB/Mitarbeitende/Bonn/01_20241118_MKB_Portraits_HighRes_HerderFabian_FKurceren_6N0A3000.jpg%3F1743068095)
PD Dr. Fabian Herder
ztm Animal husbandry Ichthyology Bonn ScientistPhone: +49 228 9122 255
E-mail: f.herder@leibniz-lib.deHenning Monscheuer
ztm Animal husbandry Ichthyology Bonn Animal keeperPhone: +49 228 9122 274
E-mail: h.monscheuer@leibniz-lib.de