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 American hog-nosed skunk is one of four species of the genus Conepatus. The other three species are Molina's hog-nosed skunk (C. chinga), Humboldt's pig-nosed skunk (C. humboldtii) and the striped hog-nosed skunk (C. semistriatus). (© en:Louis Agassiz Fuertes., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Mammals

26. July 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Big-Thicket Hog Nosed Skunk

No other specimen since the first description The American hog-nosed skunk (Conepatus leuconotus) belongs to the family of skunks and stink badgers (Mephitidae) and, thanks to their adaptability, occur in a relatively wide range in different habitats. The IUCN classifies them as not endangered, but two out of three subspecies

The pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) shown in the image is the most widespread oak species in Central Europe. There are around 600 oak species worldwide in total, many of which are endemic to only a small range. (© Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

News

8. July 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Tree Species Thought Extinct Rediscovered

Scientists from The Morton Arboretum and the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) discovered a single oak of the species Quercus tardifolia, about nine meters tall, in Big Bend National Park in the U.S. state of Texas back in May of this year. This was reported in a press release issued

The back of the scarab beetle E. giganteus was completely black, red-brown at the sides, with yellow hairs and brownish mouthparts, feet and antennae. (© Rossini M, Vaz-de-Mello FZ, Montreuil O, Porch N, Tarasov S (2021) <a href="https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.70130" target="blank"Extinct before discovered? Epactoides giganteus sp. nov. (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae), the first native dung beetle to Réunion island. ZooKeys 1061: 75-86.)

Insects

1. July 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Epactoides giganteus (scarab beetle)

First extinct, then discovered: the scarab beetle Epactoides giganteus In 1817, the French botanist Nicolas Bréon found himself on Réunion, part of the Mascarene island group, which he would not leave again until 1833 due to health problems. During his time there he was director of the botanical garden Jardin

Illustration by the Japanese painter Hasegawa Settan showing a Japanese sea lion that washed ashore in 1823 near the city of Karatsu on the island of Kyūshū. (© Hasegawa Settan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Mammals

13. June 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Japanese Sea Lion

One of the most recently extinct marine mammals At almost the same time and for the same reasons, two marine mammals were wiped out in different places in the 20th century: the Caribbean monk seal and the Japanese sea lion. Both were hunted commercially: lamp oil was extracted from their

A Barbary lion in Algeria, photographed by Sir Alfred Edward Pease in 1893. The particularly dense, dark mane was striking, but this provides little information about the species; rather, it may represent an adaptation to climatic conditions. (© Alfred Edward Pease (29 June 1857 – 27 April 1939), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Mammals

12. June 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Barbary lion

The cultural significance of North Africa’s lions Lions already played a role in early Egyptian art and literature. Archaeologists, for example, found statues and statuettes of lions from Egypt’s Early Dynastic Period (3100 to 2686 BC) in Hierakonpolis, the religious and political centre of Upper Egypt, and in the former

The head-body length of the bubal hartebeest was 150 to 244 centimeters. Its shoulder height ranged between 109 and 150 centimeters. (© Goldfuss, Georg August; Schreber, Johann Christian Daniel; Wagner, Andreas Johann, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Mammals

10. June 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Bubal hartebeest

The bubal and ancient civilizations The German zoologist Alfred Brehm writes in the 1911 edition of his world-famous zoological reference work Brehms Tierleben: “Of the various species, the one known the longest is the bubal hartebeest, frequently depicted on Egyptian monuments Bubalis buselaphus.” And indeed: the bubal must once have

The only known specimen of Ridley's stick insect is now housed in the Natural History Museum in London. (© Paul Brock's photos, copyright Natural History Museum, London., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Insects

30. May 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Ridley’s Stick Insect

About walking leaves and walking sticks Insects that strongly resemble leaves or twigs in appearance are called walking leaves or walking sticks, stick insects, ghost insects or phasmids. Stick insects are considered the longest insects on Earth. The body length of some Southeast Asian species can exceed half a meter

The nocturnal Maclear's rat was fairly large, with a body length of 21 to 26 centimeters and a tail length of up to 26.5 centimeters. The species was characterized by its black upright back hairs. (© Joseph Smit, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Mammals

24. April 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Maclear’s rat

On the vulnerability of rats The extinction of countless birds, mammals, and reptiles in modern times can be traced back to rats that arrived on European ships and expanded their range. In fact, however, there are also many species from the family of true mice and rats (Muridae) that have

Ula-ai-hawane in the book Birds of the Sandwich Islands (1890–1899) by F. W. Frohawk. (© Frederick William Frohawk, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Birds

18. March 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Ula-ai-hawane

The Hawaiian island chain once harbored 57 species of honeycreepers Honeycreepers (Drepanidini), a tribe within the finch family (Fringillidae), occur only on the Hawaiian island chain. As a sister group, the honeycreepers are closely related to the rosefinches (Carpodacus), yet many species have developed traits that differ from those of

Female Kona giant looper moth from the book Fauna Hawaiiensis (1899). Image: Scotorythra_megalophylla-Fauna_Hawaiiensis1899.PNG: Edwin Wilsonderivative work: Peter Maas, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Insects

12. March 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Kona Giant Looper Moth

Just one of many What makes the Hawaiian archipelago special is the enormous number of endemic species found there. Because of the islands’ isolation, the species living there split over time into many different new species. The genus Scotorythra, for example, consists exclusively of moths endemic to Hawaii and comprises