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
Meet Zamawelase Mwelase | Emerging Leaders Workshop Participant Profile
Passionate Custodian of the Natural World Zamawelase Mwelase, a technical assistant at the Durban Natural Science Museum, embodies a profound love for nature and an unwavering commitment to biodiversity conservation. With an honours degree in environmental management...
Meet Mpumelele Gumede | Emerging Leaders Workshop Participant Profile
"Work to become, not to acquire." – Elbert Hubbard With over a decade of experience and a master’s degree behind her, Mpumelele Gumede brings wisdom, empathy, and quiet resilience to her work at SANBI. As a Principal Auxiliary Services Officer, Mpumelele’s...
Meet Sinoxolo Fiki | Emerging Leaders Workshop Participant Profile
“The future is dark, with a darkness as much of the womb as of the grave.” This profound quote, often shared by Sinoxolo Fiki, reflects her belief that growth, innovation, and meaningful change are born from uncertainty and that the unknown is not only something to...
New species described from South African collections
Three new species of southern African horseshoe bats
A new study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society has increased the diversity of southern African horseshoe bats by three species. One (named Rhinolophus gorongosae) appears to occur only in Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique and possibly also on nearby Mount Mecula, and is genetically distinct from neighbouring horseshoe bat populations.
New species of Mongrel Frogs described from northern Mozambique
Werner Conradie and colleagues recently described four new species of frogs from the genus Nothophryne. Previously only found in southern Malawi, it was recently found that at least four new species occur from four different inselbergs in northern Mozambique. Read...
New species of wasp (Hymenoptera, Bethylidae) described from the Seychelles
A new species of wasp was recently published in the journal Atoll Research Bulletin. The authors provides the species richness of the flat wasp fauna from Cousine Island, Seychelles, and describes a new species Holepyris gaigherae. Holotype material is deposited at...
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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.
