Endangered mammals of Madagascar: over 20 million years of evolution under threat
A new study reveals that it would take 3 million years to recover the number of species that went extinct due to humans on Madagascar. However, if currently threatened species go extinct, recovering them would take more than 20 million years, much longer…
New species named after former Naturalis general director
Naturalis researcher Kees van Achterberg named a new species of parasitoid wasp after Ronald van Hengstum. He was the former general director of Naturalis, and died suddenly in 2007.
Scientists list extinct plants we may be able to "bring back to life"
If a dried specimen of an extinct plant species still has seeds in a herbarium, is the plant really extinct? A global team of scientists toyed with that question. To arrive at the answer, they made a survey of all extinct plants in herbariums that (may)…
Day of the PhD defense: Roderick Bouman
On Tuesday december 6th 2022 at 01.45 PM, Roderick Bouman will defend his thesis Systematics, biogeography and bioactivity of the genus Phyllanthus L. and related genera of tribe Phyllantheae (Phyllanthaceae). With this, he finishes his PhD research at the…
The yardstick for nature-inclusive building
Grass tiles, a nature dam and fauna sensors; on the basis of a number of guidelines, small structures can be transformed into a green oasis. But how? Knowledge Naturally! Has developed a table for nature-inclusive construction on behalf of telecom provider…
Hans ter Steege made professor at Utrecht University
Naturalis ecologist Prof. Dr. Hans ter Steege has been appointed professor (by special appointment) of community ecology of tropical trees at Utrecht University. He has been studying rainforest diversity for over 35 years.
True bugs in the picture
This is it: Pseudaufidus trifasciatus, a cicada species described in 1957 by entomologist and curator H. C. Blöte from Leiden. The cicada depicted above is not just any specimen of that species, but it is the so-called holotype: The specimen used when the…
The day of the PhD defense: Michiel Hooykaas
On 30 June 2022 at 10.00 AM Michiel Hooykaas will defend his PhD thesis at Leiden University in true style. Under his suit, he will be wearing a shirt with a bird print that alludes to his field of research and the term that he coined himself: species…
Citizen scientists from three continents help discover a new, giant slug from Europe
You might think that Europe is so well studied that no large animals remain undiscovered. Yet today, a new species of giant keelback slug from Montenegro was announced in the open-access Biodiversity Data Journal. The animal, as big as a medium-sized…