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The Natural Science Collections Facility is a network of South African institutions holding natural science collections, established as part of the Department of Science & Technology’s Research Infrastructure Roadmap and co-ordinated by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Participating institutions are committed to collaborating to achieve the following objectives:
Collections secured and accessible physically and virtually for research
Data from specimens in collections accessible and used for managing collections, research and decision-making
Research on collections and associated data addresses issues of national and global relevance
Collections and associated research provide services to identify natural science specimens for a range of stakeholders including in the agriculture, health, environmental management and academic sectors
Latest News
Interesting specimen — Acanthopsis tuba
The Holotype of Acanthopsis tuba was collected by H.W.R. Marloth (1855–1931) in August 1925 at Anenous. Anenous (originally known as P/ani P/nous in Nama) was named after a spring in the corner of the kloof and is located 14 km west of Steinkopf. Marloth, a...
Using herbarium specimens to map out historical food plant menus: what is available and what is selected
In a previous post, I explained what a herbarium specimen is. Now I would like to present just how valuable this resource can be to answer multiple research questions in the field of ethnobotany. The value of inventories of the useful plants of specific regions and...
What is a herbarium and what is a herbarium specimen?
Do you ever remember picking a little flower, then placing it inside a book? After a few days, you would find a dry and completely flattened flower. With a bit of care, this flower could be stuck down on a board and will remain in this state for hundreds of years. Now...
New species described from South African collections
New species of enigmatic African wasps
As part of discovery and exploration of the extremely species rich, yet largely unknown wasp fauna in Africa, we recently described a number of new species of parasitoid wasps in the superfamilies Chalcidoidea and Ichneumonoidea, including the first records of two...
New species of Tarantula
A new species of tarantula (the Mega Horned Baboon Tarantula, Ceratogyrus attonitifer) is described in a paper published in the open-access journal African Invertebrates by Drs John Midgley and Ian Engelbrecht.
Two new legless lizard species found
Two new legless lizard species from the genus Acontias from the Mpumalanga Escarpment were recently described by Werner Conradie and colleagues. These species live under rocks in mountain grasslands and feed on termites. Type material is deposited at Port Elizabeth...
Iconic specimens
Interesting specimen — Acanthopsis tuba
The Holotype of Acanthopsis tuba was collected by H.W.R. Marloth (1855–1931) in August 1925 at Anenous. Anenous (originally known as P/ani P/nous in Nama) was named after a spring in the corner of the kloof and is located 14 km west of Steinkopf. Marloth, a...
Eggs and embryos of the dinosaur Massospondylus
Eggs with embryos belonging to the southern African dinosaur Massospondylus were discovered in 1978.
Oldest specimen in the National Herbarium
The oldest preserved plant specimen in the National Herbarium, Pretoria, is Erica mammosa.
Use of Collections
Shale Gas Exploration SEA
Barcode of Wildlife Project
Red List Assessments
Virtual Museum
The NSCF aims to increase the accessibility and use of natural science collections for research and also to secure collections.
One mechanism of achieving both these objectives is to establish a “virtual museum” which will take the form of detailed images of important specimens such as types, and to also provide digital access to documents such as historical field notes, old catalogue books and accession registers and other documents related to the collections. Over the next two years we will initiate a project to digitise specimens and important documents and to make these available online. We also aim to show some of the collection store rooms online to provide a sense of the scope and scale of these for the public who rarely have the chance to see these hidden treasures.
