Systematics and Biodiversity

Did you know...?

Morphological simplicity isn’t primitive — it’s derived.

Resupinate (“crust”) fungi occur everywhere on the mushroom tree of life , popping up independently in multiple major clades, repeatedly evolving from more complex ancestors.

Find out more here: buff.ly/KAX5P3f

🎉 Celebrating the birthday of William Buckland (1784–1856) — a true pioneer of paleobiology!
Buckland reconstructed the past, not just from bones, but from the traces life left behind. He named the first Megalosaur, identified coprolites and established trace‑fossil science. #PaleoSky

#TaxonomyTuesday

Lateral and dorsal views of 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖 𝙖𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙪𝙢 skulls

This Hispaniolan hutia, is an endangered arboreal rodent endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

Read the full study by Hansford 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭. 2012 here: buff.ly/pMEY80j

New study!
Pecly 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭., look at 𝘼𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖, and its complex taxonomy, unclear boundaries and colour pattern variations.

Read more here: When the male genitalia do not provide useful taxonomic characters: species delimitation of the 𝘼𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖 Walker complex. buff.ly/0s5LZkP

Meet our brilliant team of Associate Editors!

𝐃𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐝-𝐍𝐞𝐣𝐡𝐚𝐝 from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK) is a fungal taxonomist specializing in the systematics of corticioid fungi.

Read more about her research here: buff.ly/458VCMm
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#WominInScience #Systematics #Biodiversity

Giant Frogs!

#TaxonomyTuesday

Lyakurwa et al. (2025) and the amphibians of Tanzania’s Ukaguru Mountains—featuring a description of a new giant species of 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙨 (Amphibia: Anura).

Read the full study: buff.ly/VtX70fU #GiantFrogs #Biodiversity #Herpetology #Taxonomy

Did you know...

Streptaxid snails hunt using a sideways jaw, like a tiny bear trap!
Unlike most land snails, which have a rasping radula, streptaxids have evolved a highly modified, asymmetrical jaw that snaps sideways to seize prey (often other snails).

Read more: buff.ly/JFMft5q

New study out: Integrative studies of the Greenlandic kinorhynchs 𝙆𝙧𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙖 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙖 and 𝘾𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙥𝙝𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙥𝙮𝙜𝙪𝙨 (Kinorhyncha: Pycnophyidae) indicate conspecificity with species from Svalbard -Sørensen 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭. 2026.

Find out how molecular barcoding helped redescribe these species: buff.ly/WnKmrdM

Meet our brilliant team of Associate Editors!

𝐃𝐫 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐚 𝐏á𝐥𝐥-𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐲 from the HUN-REN Centre of Agricultural Research, Hungary, is a leading specialist in land snail taxonomy, systematics and evolution.

Find out about his research here: buff.ly/RPuX1DE
Find him on Facebook: buff.ly/0Q5UbBk

How did bumblebees end up where they are today?
Did they fly from Asia to South America 15–17 million years ago— before the North–South American land bridge formed, despite being poor at long‑distance dispersion (especially over water).

Read more here: buff.ly/4aj2kaH #TaxonomyTuesday

To improve their chances of reproductive success, some land snails shoot chitin love darts directly into their partner during courtship. Yes, you read that right.

A study on the tribe Cernuellini (Geomitridae) reveals just how amazing these snails are.

Read more buff.ly/2GYQtSV #LoveinNature

Happy birthday to John Edward Gray (1800) & Charles Darwin (1809) 🎉whose curiosity inspires us daily.

Gray was a zoologist who developed the cataloguing and taxonomic frameworks scientists still use today. His vast collections allowed Darwin to develop the theory of evolution and formed the NHM ⭐️

This week, we’re celebrating some of the true romantics of the natural world:

First, the serenades of the cicadas of Spain 🎶
Puissant & Sueur (2010) identified four brand‑new genera and species, each with a distinctive mating call, a unique song to find love 💘 buff.ly/LwUrREv
#TaxonomyTuesday

Did you know..
A species can appear to prefer a completely different habitat just because scientists collected samples unevenly.

Bystriakova 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭. (2012) showed that you can 'break' a species distribution model by collecting field data in the wrong places buff.ly/tzwe4lQ
@nbystriakova.bsky.social

#TaxonomyTuesday

Revision of 𝘖𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘴𝘢 (Bacillariophyta): life-cycle and taxonomy by Williams 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭. (2025).

𝘖𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘴𝘢 is a highly polymorphic species with three “phenotypes” (or “phases”).

Read the full study here: buff.ly/CDOuhGs

#Systematics #Biodiversity #NHM

Keep up to date with all our latest publications and other exciting news!
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Meet our brilliant team of Associate Editors!

𝐃𝐫 𝐍𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐁𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐤𝐨𝐯𝐚 from the Accelerating Taxonomy Group at NHM London is a specialist in biodiversity data analysis and species distribution modelling.

Read more about her research here: buff.ly/wZCDFJK

@nbystriakova.bsky.social #WomenInScience

#TaxonomyTuesday 🐜

In an attempt to fill some of the gaps in knowledge in terms of species distribution data and sampling coverage , Feitosa 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭. (2022) used a scientometric approach to investigate the ants of Brazil: an overview based on 50 years of diversity studies.
Read here: buff.ly/uvbCoQ4

Join us in Upsala Sweden for BioSyst EU, 17th–19th August 2026, for a three-day conference celebrating European systematics and biodiversity research at its origin. Systematics and Biodiversity are proud to be an official sponsor!

A call for symposia will be coming soon.. #BioSystEU2026

Did you know..

Appearances can be deceptive.
The adult skeletal morphology of bryozoans, which is traditionally used for taxonomic classification, frequently conflicts with the topology of evolutionary trees based on DNA sequences.

Read more in this study by Taylor et al. (2015): buff.ly/SQ4xyu4

Achatz 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭. (2025) report the phylogeny and systematics of diplostomids (Digenea: Diplostomidae) from passeriform and cuculiform birds in South America.

Read here: buff.ly/GBLlSOl #Parasite #Biodiversity #TaxonomyTuesday

Meet our brilliant team of Associate Editors!

𝐃𝐫 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐖𝐚𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐡 from NHM, London, is a specialist in the molecular systematics and evolution of Bryozoa (colonial aquatic invertebrates).

Find out more about her research here: buff.ly/yw1jm8p

@bryoevolution.bsky.social #WomenInScience

Wild London Sir David Attenborough explores the wildlife of his London hometown, from urban deer to rooftop peregrines and many others, revealing how nature thrives in the world’s greenest major city.

Check out Wild London, a fantastic short film looking at the thriving and incredible biodiversity in London (as well as in the nature garden here at the Natural History Museum), highlighting the incredible resilience and adaptability of nature even in the busiest urban environments.

buff.ly/ydEbe7y

Biodiversity loss is systematic and predictable.

The Goldilocks Hypothesis suggests that extinction risk is lowest in mid‑sized species sitting in a “Goldilocks zone” of lower risk.
Read about trait‑based selectivity patterns: buff.ly/JrzQYaY

#TaxonomyTuesday #extinction #GoldilocksHypothesis

New paper out in JSP!

Xu et al. report the first fossil true cricket (Grylloidea, †Baissogryllidae) from the Middle Jurassic of north-western China and its systematic implications, based on exquisite forewing fossils.

Read the full study here: buff.ly/Vq5GO02

#PaleoSky #FossilsFriday #MindBlown

Camps-CastellÀ 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭. investigate the biodiversity of eastern Pacific octocorals

Revisiting Chilean gorgonians (Cnidaria: Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae): taxonomic clarification and molecular phylogeny of 𝙇𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙨 and 𝙋𝙝𝙮𝙘𝙤𝙜𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙖 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙖 🪸

Read here: buff.ly/7oJolr1 #TaxonomyTuesday

Please join us for the 12th European Conference on Echinoderms, which will be held at University College London from Monday 13th July to Friday 17th July 2026. The deadline for submitting an abstract is Monday 2nd February 2026. www.euroechino.net

𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 from all of us at Systematics and Biodiversity ✨ Wishing you all a great 2026✨

Throwback to our most read paper of 2025 by Scott 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭.: Collecting and cataloguing the world: the botanical collections of Hans Sloane (1660–1753) 🌿
Read here: buff.ly/ce37BTZ #Taxonomy #Collections

New study out in Systematics and Biodiversity!

Achatz 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭. (2025) report the phylogeny and systematics of diplostomids (Digenea: Diplostomidae) from passeriform and cuculiform birds in South America.

Read the full study here: buff.ly/GBLlSOl #Taxonomy #Parasite #Biodiversity #Systematics

Research on the flat lizard 𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙪𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙨 shows that many lineages are quietly diverging in isolated pockets of Brazil’s semi‑arid biome.
Ferreira 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭. (2025) show that microendemism isn’t the exception in the Caatinga—it may be the rule. #Biodiversity #Systematics #TaxonomyTuesday