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Vote Now: Who will be Mollusc of the Year 2026?
Three snails, two bivalves, one title. Starting today, all mollusc fans are invited to visit https://sgn.one/imoy2026 to help decide which of the five finalist species will receive the title of “International Mollusc of the Year 2026.” This is the sixth time that the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and Unitas Malacologica – the international society for mollusc research – have organized this public online vote. The aim is to raise public awareness of the impressive diversity of this fascinating group of animals and to promote their protection. The winning species will also receive a special award: its genome will be fully sequenced for the first time. “By choosing the ‘Mollusc of the Year…
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Return to Nature: 27 Leopard Tortoises Released into the Wild in South Africa
A team of South African and German researchers led by Senckenberg scientist Dr. Melita Vamberger and Dr. Adrian J. Armstrong (Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife) has used a genetic reference database to trace the origins of leopard tortoises that were confiscated and kept in rescue stations. Despite their IUCN status of “least concern (LC),” the tortoises face significant threats such as illegal trade, habitat loss, and human interference. The study, published in the journal “Conservation Genetics,” underlines the crucial importance of genetic data for responsible reintroductions: Following controlled preparation, 27 out of 50 genetically examined animals have already been successfully released back into the wild in South Africa. The researchers call for…
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Blueleg, Colourleg, and Cave Midget: Nine New Spider Species Discovered
The limestone caves of Laos are hotspots of biodiversity: Senckenberg arachnologist Dr. Peter Jäger and his colleague Liphone Nophaseud from the National University of Laos have discovered nine previously unknown spider species there. They belong to three genera and two families, including the first record of the family Ochyroceratidae for Laos. The new descriptions encompass tiny “cave midgets” that carry their eggs or young in their chelicerae, spiders with colorful, iridescent legs, and a completely eyeless species. The study, published in the specialist journal “Zootaxa,” illustrates the importance of karst caves for the protection of rare animal species – and hints at many future discoveries still waiting to be revealed…
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Tracing the Venom: Genetic Material of a Living Fossil Decoded
With the almost complete decoding of the genome of the rare earless monitor lizard, a Senckenberg team of taxonomists and genomicists is providing new, fundamental insights into the early evolutionary history of the scaled reptiles. The lizard, which is regarded as a “living fossil” and is found exclusively on Borneo, is considered a key genetic organism for understanding reptile evolution, and 93 percent of its genome of around 1.5 billion base pairs was reconstructed. In their study, published today in the journal “BMC Biology,” the researchers assign the earless monitor lizard to the Toxicofera family group, thus providing important milepost for understanding the early origins of venom systems in reptiles.…
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Tiny, Blind, and no Skull Roof: New Fish Species Discovered from a Well
An international team led by Senckenberg researcher Dr. Ralf Britz has made an extraordinary discovery in Northeast India when they found an as yet undescribed species of fish in a well. The blind loach with a length of just 20 millimeters, now described as Gitchak nakana in the journal “Scientific Reports,” is characterized by almost non-existent eyes, a transparent body, and a missing skull roof. Gitchak nakana is the first aquifer-dwelling fish species described from Northeast India and provides the first evidence of a previously unknown subterranean fauna in the region. Ever since the scientific description of the olm (Proteus anguinus) in the 18th century, subterranean animals have been a source of…
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Nature Conservation Must Not Stop at the Forest Edge: Grasslands are Vanishing Around the World
Along with forests, grasslands and wetlands are also being converted to cropland and pasture at an increasing rate around the world – often for livestock farming and the export of agricultural products. An international team led by Senckenberg researchers has now analyzed for the first time where, for what purpose, and how quickly natural non-forest ecosystems are being converted into agricultural land on a global scale. The results show that these ecologically highly valuable areas are converted at a rate almost four times faster than forests. In a study published today in the scientific journal “PNAS,” the scientists emphasize the need for more comprehensive conservation strategies that extend beyond forests…
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From Brown to Green: Ground Personnel on Permanent Duty
Soil food webs conduct most of the energy in terrestrial ecosystems. Temperate and tropical forests are home to different communities of soil animals, but to date it was not clear how these differences specifically affect the structure and functioning of soil food webs in these large climate zones. In a new study, published in the journal “Nature Communications,” an international research team led by Senckenberg scientist Prof. Dr. Anton Potapov has investigated the energy flows in forest soils. The scientists identified characteristic patterns of biomass and energy distribution in small, medium, and large soil animals – from Germany to Indonesia. The results show fundamental differences in soil food webs, from…
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More Species across Thousands of Kilometers: The Secret Life on the Deep-Sea Floor
Although the deep-sea floor represents around 70 percent of the Earth’s habitats, it is still poorly explored. Therefore, it is also unclear how animal species live in the deep sea, where they occur, and how far they spread. To find answers to these questions, Senckenberg researchers have studied tiny isopods measuring only a few millimeters in the North Pacific that were thought to have very limited mobility. In a study now published in the journal “Progress in Oceanography,” the research team concludes on the basis of morphological and genetic analyses that there is a significantly higher number of these isopod species than previously assumed, and that the range of some…
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Type Genomics: DNA Treasure in the Collections
In a joint appeal, an international research team, including Senckenberg scientist Prof. Dr. Steffen Pauls, advocates the targeted and comprehensive genome sequencing of type specimens – the reference specimens of individual species that are kept in natural history collections. In their article, published in the scientific journal “Systematic Biology,” the researchers, led by first author Dr. Harald Letsch (University of Vienna and State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe), emphasize the great importance of deciphering these genetic codes for biodiversity research and show how state-of-the-art technologies can be used to create “digital twins” of the often historical museum specimens. The joint initiative – supported by the three largest natural history museums…
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Tropical Time Machine: With a Teaspoon of Mud Back into the Past
For a long time, researchers believed that the warm and humid climate of the tropics and subtropics destroyed all traces of old genetic material. A new review, led by Senckenberg scientists, now disproves this dogma. Published in the journal “Trends in Ecology & Evolution,” the study shows how ancient environmental DNA can be preserved in tropical sediments for thousands – and in some cases even up to a million – years. The authors emphasize that this method provides a revolutionary tool to better understand biodiversity loss and climate resilience as well as human history. At the same time, they issue an urgent call for close cooperation and the development of…
