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
Spotlight on Romano Adams | Emerging Leaders Workshop
Getting to know Romano Romano is a collections assistant at the Iziko Museums of South Africa in the Marine Biology Biodiversity Unit. He finds it a privilege and an honor to have worked at this institution for seven years. His role involves the curation,...
Spotlight on Siyavuya Twetwa | Emerging Leaders Workshop
Getting to know Siyavuya Siyavuya Twetwa is a collections assistant who looks after the collection and digitizing of specimens at the Iziko Museum of South Africa in the Invertebrate Paleontology and Geology department. He is pursuing a PhD in environmental and water...
Event Alert | Emerging Leaders Workshop
You may have heard us mention that, as part of our Iqoqwana Journey, we would like to develop emerging leaders in collections. Well, that is no longer a dream; it has become a reality. We are excited to inform you that we will be hosting our very first Emerging...
New species described from South African collections
Two new springtails described from the Western Cape
Recently two new species of Collembola (springtails) from the genus Friesea was dscribed from the Western Cape. One species, Friesea stevenchowni was collected from the Afromontane forest vegetation in Jonkershoek Nature Reserve, while a blind species, Friesea...
A new grapevine leafminer, Holocacista capensis
The new species has been named Holocacista capensis sp. n. and material of this species is housed in the National Collection of Insects of the Agricultural Research Council.
A new species of fruit chafer from iSimangaliso Wetland Park
This new species of beetle is only known from the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal. Material from Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Durban Natural Science Museum, Iziko South African Museum and the National Collection of Insects of the Agricultural Research Council was used for this paper.
Iconic specimens
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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.
