The South African government’s Covid-19 portal at sacoronavirus.co.za site contains information about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the disease it causes, plus statistics on its spread in SA and related government press releases.
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
Pindiwe Ntloko | Iqoqwana Initiative Profile
Meet Pindiwe Ntloko, Production Scientist at Albany Museum in Makhanda. Pindiwe is a curator and researcher who looks after the collection. For example, some of the jars in the wet store are almost or half empty, she fills those jars with Ethanol to properly preserve...
Let us profile YOU | Iqoqwana Initiative
With the collections assessments coming up, and the orientation workshops just a few days away, we would like to profile the people in the collections. The people that are hard at work, making sure that our precious collections are in the best state. The people that...
Downloads | NSCF Virtual Forum 2022
We have prepared some Forum branded goodies that you can download and be part of the Forum brand. The presentation template - for those that will be presenting at the Forum Virtual Backgrounds Download the virtual backgrounds to your computer, and follow these steps...
New species described from South African collections
Discovery of new species and records of rare African wasps
Simon van Noort, Research and Exhibitions Department, Iziko Museums of South AfricaThe ongoing exploration and documentation of the huge diversity of unknown wasp species in Africa has recently led to the description of new species of rare parasitoid wasp species,...
Fossil lamprey larvae from Makhanda, South Africa overturn textbook assumptions on vertebrate origins
Linda Dyani, Albany Museum The unprecedented discovery of an ancient lamprey growth series from Makhanda was revealed in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature on the 10th of March 2021. Supported by information from rare juveniles of other (slightly less ancient)...
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...
Iconic specimens
Rare fly found in South Africa after 160 years
Dr John Midgley, KwaZulu-Natal MuseumWe know very little about most insects, probably because there are so many species out there. Scientists are still busy discovering new species of insect, and some estimate that over 90% of the animals on Earth are insects!...
Old Fourlegs
Louanne Kirton, Photographic Competition Second Runner-up: The ugliest specimenOn 22 December 1938, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, the Curator of the East London Museum, received a call from the Captain of the Nerine fishing trawler, Hendrik Goosen. He had just returned...
Gone but not forgotten
David Allan, Photographic Competition Winner: The most iconic specimenI describe the Dodo Skeleton as a first-hand view back into a lost past. It is one of the two most complete skeletons of the Dodo anywhere in the world. Did you know? Dodos were a type of pigeon....
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.
