Selected press releases in English

Bavarian State Collection for Zoology Madagascar is a famous hotspot of biodiversity. 319 species of frogs are officially known from this island off the East African coast. Recent studies have shown that at least 200 additional new species are still awaiting scientific description and naming. An international team has now described 26 new species of […]

Bavarian State Collection for Zoology Researchers from the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, Munich, studied a gecko’s colonization of islands in the Western Indian Ocean. By applying molecular dating of a family tree of gecko species (“molecular clock”) they found that the volcanic island of Grand Comoro is likely much older than previously estimated based […]

Bavarian State Collection for Botany Hoverflies (also called flower flies), are conspicuous flower visitors of the dipteran family Syrphidae which often mimic the colouration of bees and wasps for protection, however they are totally stingless insects. The larvae (“maggots”) of most species are known to be beneficial organisms that feed on aphids and related insect […]

SNSB IT Center The project GFBio is funded with additional 5.8 million € by the ‚Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft‘ to continue the setup of a national data infrastructure in the field of biological and environmental sciences. Innovative research and new techniques in the field of environmental and ecosystem sciences not only lead to new understandings, but also […]

Bavarian State Collection for Botany An international team of botanists from Brazil, USA and the Botanische Staatssammlung München, Germany described a new species of carnivorous sundew (Drosera, Droseraceae), which was discovered on a not-so-remote mountain in Southeastern Brazil. The new species, which has been named Drosera magnifica (the magnificent sundew), turned out to be the […]

Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology Tuataras are often regarded as a classic example of a living fossil. They are the last survivors of an ancient lineage, which is said to have lost the evolutionary struggle with the modern lizards. A new find from the Late Jurassic (c. 148 Ma ago) of southern Germany […]

Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology They ruled the oceans when the dinosaurs populated the continents: the armored fishes, members of the bony fishes that were armored with hard bony scales, the surface of which was covered with ganoin, a hard calcified substance resembling the teeth’s enamel, which reached up to one centimeter thick […]

Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology Most of us grew up with an image of dinosaurs that was dominated by the “Jurassic Park” movies or documentaries such as “walking with dinosaurs” – dinosaurs were large, though active, reptiles with scaly skin, their outer appearance resembling overgrown lizards or crocodiles. Finds of feathered, bird-like predatory […]

Bavarian State Collection for Zoology Madagascar is famous for its high levels of species diversity and endemism. Almost 300 species of frogs and approximately 400 species of reptiles live in the rainforests, mountains and arid areas of the island, and new species are regularly discovered. More than 40% of the 193 named chameleon species occur […]