Nature reports

Why do some plants grow into large woody shrubs or colossal trees, while others remain small and never produce wood in their stems? It’s an evolutionary puzzle that already baffled Charles Darwin more than 160 year ago. Now,..

While studying coral reefs on Curaçao, a team of researchers from Naturalis and the University of Groningen came across what turned out to be a worm snail. Up until now, these animals had not been known in the Caribbean. Their..

The Netherlands is known for its beautiful and colourful tulips. Though most tulips originate from the Ottoman empire, Tulipa sylvestris, the wild tulip, followed a different path. Anastasia Stefanaki and Tinde van Andel, both..

The skull and skin of a fishing cat have been in the collections of Naturalis for two hundred years, but only recently did they receive attention. What researchers found can inform us about the history of Singapore – natural and..

Which 'hidden' organisms live in the city? How can we use these organisms to help trees grow better, make concrete more plant-friendly and measure heat stress? Will city dwellers act more environmentally conscious if they let..

A global biological study has provided the most direct evidence to date that humans, and specifically cities, are the drivers of evolutionary change on earth. Leiden University, the municipality of Leiden and Naturalis..

Orchids are legally protected, but these plants are still widely traded illegally. A new online search engine from Naturalis shows how and where wild terrestrial orchids and their products are sold around the world. Online trading..

Cymbulia peronii is a sea butterfly that occurs in large numbers in the deep sea throughout the world. This unusual animal has been nominated for the ‘Mollusc of the Year 2022’ election. If this species gets the most votes, its..

Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (FOC) is a fungus found across the world, and various of its races are hitting the banana industry hard. This has major consequences in Vietnam, in particular, where the new FOC-TR4 race is taking..

Plants collected more than a century ago are still important to science. Naturalis researchers are using these to construct a family tree of plant life...