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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
Spotlight on Tanya Mathe | Emerging Leaders Workshop
Getting to know Tanya Tanya is a science collections technician at the C.E. Moss Herbarium. She is involved in integrating orphaned collections into a fully functional herbaria. She has also been involved in the incorporation of three herbaria into the Bews Herbarium...
Spotlight on Randall Josephs | Emerging Leaders Workshop
Getting to know Randall Randall is a technician at the H.G.W.J. Schweickerdt Herbarium (University of Pretoria). He holds an honours degree in biological sciences obtained at the University of Cape Town. He has gained experience working in collections management and...
Spotlight on Zamawelase Mwelase | Emerging Leaders Workshop
Getting to know Zama Zama describes herself as someone who loves nature and the sea breeze, and she says the tree breeze soothes her soul. “Nature is a place where I can be at peace with the world and myself. It always reminds me that important things in life are...
New species described from South African collections
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...
A new species of tangle-veined fly described.
A new species of tangle-veined fly was described in the journal Zootaxa from the Hantam National Botanical Garden, Nieuwoudtville, Bokkeveld Plateau, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. The species is a narrow-range endemic and is restricted to the Nieuwoudtville...
Iconic specimens
Once lost but now found: a rare snake and endemic to South Africa | Montaspis gilvomuculata
Montaspis gilvomuculata. Photo by Matabaro Ziganira, KwaZulu-Natal Museum This rare cream-spotted snake is endemic to the Drakensberg Mountains in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Only four specimens have ever been found in this region between 1967 and 1991. Between...
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.
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.
