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.

Replica of Delcourt's giant gecko or Kawekaweau gecko from the Lille Natural History Museum in France. (© Musée d'Histoire Naturelle de Lille, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Reptiles

26. May 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Delcourt’s Giant Gecko

The largest gecko in the world … In the early 1980s, French museum employee Alain Delcourt discovered a forgotten specimen of a single stuffed giant gecko in the basement of the Natural History Museum of Marseille, which had previously been on public display for years. This species was previously unknown

Buschmoa-Genom rekonstruiert (Anomaloptery didiformis)

The bush moa is the smallest moa species known to date. It was only slightly larger than today’s turkeys and weighed around 30 kilograms. The flightless bird went extinct about 500 to 600 years ago with the settlement of New Zealand. (© Auckland Museum, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

News

25. May 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Deciphered Bush Moa genome provides insights into New Zealand’s extinct avian world

A team of evolutionary biologists has reconstructed the nearly complete genome of the bush moa (Anomalopteryx didiformis), a flightless bird from New Zealand that went extinct 500 to 600 years ago. Researchers from Harvard University, East Carolina University, Osaka University, and the University of Toronto sequenced ancient DNA from a

Researchers have rediscovered the plant species Kattupoovamkurunnila (Uniyala multibracteata) in the Western Ghats, a mountain range in western India. (© Raju, R., J. Joseph, K.S. Divya, C. Badekar & J. Augustine (2024). Uniyala multibracteata (Gamble) H.Rob. & Skvarla (Asteraceae: Vernoniae): notes on its identity and rediscovery.Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(4): 25107–25110. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8763.16.4.25107-25110)

News

12. May 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

India: Researchers Rediscover Rare Tree Species After 140 Years

After 140 years, researchers have accidentally rediscovered the tree species Uniyala multibracteata, believed to have been lost and locally known as Kattupoovamkurunnila, in the unprotected mountain regions of Vagamon in India’s Western Ghats. This is according to a recently published study in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. Kattupoovamkurunnila, originally discovered

The raccoon is an invasive species in the EU because it threatens native biodiversity. Image: Quartl, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

News

22. April 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Top Ten: Invasive Animals in Germany

Invasive alien species can displace native species, cause health problems and inflict economic damage. According to a report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), invasive species (neozoans) are a major cause of 60% of all extinctions. Human activities in particular cause non-native species to enter

Haplochromis vonlinnei holotyp Buntbarsch Victoriasee

The brownish-gray cichlid Haplochromis vonlinnei reached a length of nearly 16 centimeters. Its snout was relatively pointed and its teeth strongly curved. It is assumed that the species was a specialized piscivore, as remains of smaller cichlid species were found in the intestines of collected specimens. Image: Eelco Kruidenier, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fish

11. March 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Haplochromis vonlinnei (Cichlid)

One of 500 furu Haplochromis vonlinnei is a probably extinct cichlid species from Lake Victoria in East Africa. The original scientific description of the species was published in 2008 by Dutch ichthyologist Martien J. P. Van Oijen based on five specimens caught between 1978 and 1980 in the southern part

By reconstructing past climate, the study authors found that species with narrower thermal niche breadths, smaller geographic ranges, or smaller bodies were more likely to face extinction.

News

11. March 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Climate change: which animals are most threatened with extinction?

Human-caused climate change is accelerating rapidly and has already had noticeable impacts on biodiversity. Despite its crucial importance for future projections, understanding of the underlying mechanisms that drive extinction under climatic influence remains limited. A newly published study in the journal Science presents an approach that explores the interaction between

With the help of citizen scientists and the iNaturalist platform, the cicada Okanagana arctostaphylae, thought extinct, was rediscovered. The image shows the insect Okanagana fumipennis from the same genus. (© Patrick Alexander from Las Cruces, NM, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

News

8. March 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Rediscovered thanks to citizen science: cicada found again after 100 years

As National Geographic reported, the cicada species Okanagana arctostaphylae has been rediscovered more than a century after it was last seen. The discovery was made by nature observer Lucinda Collings Parker in her garden in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California. Parker photographed the striking red cicada in

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)

News

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)

News

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)

News

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