Author: Doreen Fräßdorf

Doreen Fräßdorf ist Autorin und Betreiberin von artensterben.de. Sie recherchiert und schreibt über ausgestorbene und vom Aussterben bedrohte Arten in der Neuzeit – mit Schwerpunkt auf Roten Listen, wissenschaftlichen Studien, historischen Quellen und aktuellen Schutzbemühungen. Ziel ist eine verständliche, faktenbasierte Einordnung komplexer Entwicklungen rund um Biodiversitätsverlust und Artenschutz. Sie ist außerdem Autorin eines Sachbuchs über ausgestorbene Säugetiere der Neuzeit.

The fairly large weevil Metapocyrtus (Orthocyrtus) bifoveatus, measuring 1.35 centimeters in length and rediscovered after around 100 years, is colored metallic green, blue and rust-brown. (© Tomislav Terzin et al, From deforestation to recovery: One new species and new record of the genus Metapocyrtus Heller, 1912 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae: Pachyrhynchini) from Negros Island, Philippines with the review of type material, Topola (2023). DOI: 10.5937/topola2312005T)

6. February 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Philippines: colorful weevil rediscovered after 100 years + new species found

Biologist Tom Terzin of the University of Alberta discovered two species of weevil in the rainforests of the Philippine island of Negros: one previously thought extinct and one entirely new species. What is especially interesting is that the finds, published in the journal Topola, show nature’s ability to recover after

The last two specimens of the northern white rhinoceros are living in Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a protected area in Kenya. (© Karimi Ngore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

24. January 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Successful embryo transfer gives hope for the northern white rhino

The critically endangered northern white rhino subspecies (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), whose population has fallen to two female animals, could be saved thanks to a major success in reproductive medicine. Scientists have successfully carried out an embryo transfer in the southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum), even though the first attempt

Leopard-Barbe (Luciobarbus subquincunciatus) wiederentdeckt

The population of the leopard barbel has declined sharply over the past three decades, leading researchers to assume that this cyprinid fish had already become extinct. (© Photo by Metin Yoksu)

9. January 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Turkey: Leopard barbel thought lost rediscovered

According to a report by the non-profit conservation organization Re:wild, a team of ichthyologists recently rediscovered the leopard barbel or Mesopotamian barbel (Luciobarbus subquincunciatus) in the Turkish section of the Tigris River, after it was last documented in 2011. The rediscovery of this cyprinid marks the team’s second success, after

2023 ausgestorbene Tiere: Epioblasma torulosa

Two subspecies of the freshwater mussel Epioblasma torulosa were removed from the Endangered Species Act by the FWS and officially declared extinct in 2023. (© Naturalis Biodiversity Center, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

2. January 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Animals declared extinct in 2023

In 2023, scientists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) officially declared 21 species, including ten birds, eight mussels, two fish, and one mammal, to be extinct. Additionally, the international conservation organization IUCN changed the status of the Java stingaree (Urolophus javanicus) on its Red List to “extinct.” This

The newly discovered scarab beetle species Semanopterus kingstoni was named after entomologist Tim Kingston, who had collected the only known specimen in 1979. (© Reid, Chris & TEES, NATALIE. (2023). A new, but possibly extinct, species of Semanopterus Hope, 1847 from Lord Howe Island, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae). Zootaxa. 5306. 563-570. 10.11646/zootaxa.5306.5.4.)

5. December 2023 Doreen Fräßdorf

New beetle species with unique trait discovered on island

Australian researchers recently discovered a previously unknown species of scarab beetle (Scarabaeidae) in the insect collection of the Australian Museum in Sydney. The specimen in question, a female, was collected on January 30, 1979 on Lord Howe, a small island of only 14 square kilometers in the southwest Pacific. The

Nördliches Sumatra-Nashorn Begum London Zoo

A photograph taken around 1890 of a female northern Sumatran rhinoceros named Begum at London Zoo. This specimen formed the basis for the first scientific description of the species in 1872. The holotype lived at London Zoo from February 15, 1872, to August 31, 1900. (© Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

3. December 2023 Doreen Fräßdorf

Northern Sumatran Rhinoceros

How the Sumatran rhinoceros came to London In February 1868, some villagers captured a female Sumatran rhinoceros on the Sangu River near the Chittagong Hill Tracts, a mountainous region in southeastern Bangladesh—such a species had never before been reported so far west of Chittagong. The rhinoceros came into the possession

Attenborough-Langschnabeligel (Zaglossus attenboroughi) wieder entdeckt

Like platypuses, echidnas are curious mammals: spiny hedgehog-like creatures with a long, toothless beak that also lay eggs. The photo shows the specimen of Attenborough's long-beaked echidna collected in 1961, which is now housed at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands. (© Naturalis Biodiversity Center, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

10. November 2023 Doreen Fräßdorf

Lost Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna rediscovered after more than 60 years

Until recently, only a single specimen of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi) was known, collected by a Dutch botanist in 1961 in the forests of the Cyclops Mountains in western New Guinea. Now—62 years later—the shoebox-sized animal from the echidna family was tracked down again using camera traps. This was

Neu entdeckte Tiere 2023: Krokodilsmolch Tylototriton ngoclinhensis

The species name ngoclinhensis refers to the type locality of the newly discovered Ngoc Linh crocodile newt (Tylototriton ngoclinhensis): Ngoc Linh Mountain in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. (© Phung TM, Pham CT, Nguyen TQ, Ninh HT, Nguyen HQ, Bernardes M, Le ST, Ziegler T, Nguyen TT (2023) Southbound – the southernmost record of Tylototriton (Amphibia, Caudata, Salamandridae) from the Central Highlands of Vietnam represents a new species. ZooKeys 1168: 193-218.)

9. November 2023 Doreen Fräßdorf

Newly discovered animals 2023

It is said that between 11,000 and 58,000 animal and plant species irreversibly go extinct each year, but there is also good news: around 18,000 new species are described and named by taxonomists each year; this number includes extinct or fossilized organisms, as well as bacteria and viruses. Even in

Hollies are also known as winterberries or Christmas thorn and are found in all climate zones worldwide. Most of these plants are native to the subtropics and tropics. (© Kristina D.C. Hoeppner from Wellington, New Zealand, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

21. September 2023 Doreen Fräßdorf

Brazil: Extinct Tree Species Rediscovered After Nearly 200 Years

According to a report by the organization re:wild, an expedition team led by ecologist Gustavo Martinelli has now rediscovered the holly species Ilex sapiiformis in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. The tree species had been considered extinct for nearly two centuries. The Scottish biologist George Gardner first collected the plant

Rats are among the most widespread invasive species. They are probably responsible for nearly one third of all extinctions—including many island-dwelling birds. (© CSIRO, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

9. September 2023 Doreen Fräßdorf

IPBES Report: Invasive Species as One of the Main Causes of Species Extinction

According to the report published in September 2023 by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), invasive animals and plants play an important role in global species extinction. The publication examines current developments in the spread of introduced species, the causes and the impacts of the problem.