Nature reports

Earthwatch Europe is delighted to announce the roll-out of its FreshWater Watch programme to the Netherlands, thanks to support from Naturalis Biodiversity Center. FreshWater Watch is a global programme in which individuals and..

Last December, a beetle catalogue for the Dutch Caribbean was published. This voluminous paper provides the first critical review of the beetle species reported for the islands. Only about a fifth of the species which are likely..

The sea slug Plocamopherus ocellatus is mainly known from observations in the Mediterranean Sea, which is not its natural habitat. Marine biologists examine this unusual species...

Between 2015 and 2020, researchers from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center updated the local ant species lists for the Dutch Caribbean. A large number of new species was documented, including 40 new species on Saba and 32 new..

Manmade structures such as seawalls, breakwaters, and jetties are increasing in frequency in marine coastal environments. Overtime, these structures are unintentionally recruiting marine life such as corals, resulting in the..

This summer, visitors to Naturalis can see something unique in the museum: a giant installation that will photograph tiny insects in detail...

Mammal species on islands differ from those on the mainland. That is due to their isolation for hundreds of thousands or millions of years. In addition, there are no warm-blooded land predators, and the quantity of food is..

The Netherlands Gemmological Laboratory received a unique pearl to examine: a black one. Black pearls are not that rare, but they usually originate from a pearl oyster. This one, however, did not...

How do you get from a shrew’s tooth to the diversity of teeth seen in horses, humans and hippopotami? Computational models suggest that the evolution of such major transformations can be relatively easy and fast. ..

Seahorses worldwide are threatened with extinction as a result of their habitat being damaged. In addition, their iconic appearance makes them popular in international trade. A recent study revealed how this trade in seahorses has..