Systematics and taxonomy are complementary scientific disciplines within the biological sciences that address organismal diversity and evolutionary relationships. Systematics encompasses the study and inference of phylogenetic relationships using morphological, molecular, behavioral, and biochemical data, often employing cladistic, probabilistic, or distance-based methods to reconstruct evolutionary histories and test hypotheses of common ancestry. Taxonomy provides the principles and rules for discovering, describing, naming, and classifying organisms, including species delimitation, typification, and hierarchical ranking under formal codes of nomenclature. Together, systematics and taxonomy generate a predictive classification framework that reflects phylogeny and underpins comparative biology, biodiversity assessment, and conservation planning.
Recent advances in our understanding of human evolution challenge the way we currently name and classify our ancestors, according to new research from Monash University. The study, published in the American Journal of Biological ...
Evolution
15 hours ago
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154
According to a study by Brazilian scientists published in the journal npj Biodiversity, most new mammal species described over the past 35 years are housed in institutions in countries of the so-called Global North, even ...
Plants & Animals
19 hours ago
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6
AI optimists will be encouraged by a recent report on the state of the world's plants and fungi by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Ecology
19 hours ago
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7
Scientists have described five new species of parasitoid wasps from Cyprus, more than doubling the number of chalcid wasps known to be found nowhere else on the island. The wasps, all belonging to the family Pteromalidae, ...
Plants & Animals
21 hours ago
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6
Biodiversity is enormously diverse, unevenly observed and constantly in motion across space and time. This makes it far harder to monitor than many other parts of the environment. As a result, managing biodiversity often ...
Ecology
Aug 17, 2026
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You need to tread carefully among the leaf litter of the Indonesian scrubland and its tropical rainforests. The dead leaves might seem caught in a gentle breeze, but there's more here than meets the eye. Try plucking one ...
Evolution
Aug 7, 2026
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37
An eight-year international research effort has produced the most comprehensive review of Honduras' mammals since 1998, verifying 227 native species across 146 genera and 42 families, along with three introduced rodent species. ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 7, 2026
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36
An international team of scientists has described seven new species of Madagascar's elusive diamond frogs (Rhombophryne), revealing that one of the island's most mysterious groups of amphibians is even more diverse than previously ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 3, 2026
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76
Despite the promise of rebounding green sea turtle numbers, many sea turtle populations continue to flounder under the pressures of changing climates, overfishing and urbanization.
Plants & Animals
Jul 30, 2026
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34
Researchers at Uppsala University have discovered a completely new fungal species, which they named after the king of Sweden. The species has been given the Latin name Semicentenialea rex, which means the king's 50th anniversary. ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 15, 2026
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