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Historical data, combined with current data on species distribution, are a valuable resource for tracking changes in biodiversity and can potentially be applied to developing models in conservation biology and designing and assessing conservation strategies. Historical data supporting current knowledge on the natural history of the African continent are primarily held in Western museums. The Zoologisches Museum Berlin (ZMB), which is today part of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN), is the primary source of reference for zoological collections from former German colonial territories including Cameroon. Here, we document for the first time a catalogue of the type material in the mammal collection of the MfN from the point of view of a geographical region. The type collection includes 91 type specimens identified in the catalogues as originating from German 'Kamerun' and which correspond to 31 described species, of which 12 are currently accepted (valid) species names. Of the 31 described species, 21 are represented by holotypes, three para-holotype series, one para-lectotype series and six syntype series. We hope that this first analysis of zoological objects, based on geographical location, will lead to similar research on other geographical locations of collection. This could provide more information on the provenance of collections and on colonial collecting practices, as well as contribute to the accessibility of collections in Western museums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new trigonotarbid (Arachnida: Trigonotarbida) is described as Permotarbus schuberti n. gen., n. sp. from the Early Permian Petrified Forest (Rotliegend) of Chemnitz in Saxony (Germany). At ca. 290 Ma it represents the youngest record of this extinct arachnid order discovered to date. Its familial affinities are uncertain, but may lie close to the Aphantomartidae. The distribution of the trigonotarbid genera through time is summarised, together with a list of their seventy-seven fossil-yielding localities. Together they offer a broad overview of the group's fossil record, which is heavily biased towards the Moscovian Stage (ca. 307-312 Ma) of the Late Carboniferous in Europe and North America. This is due in no small part to numerous localities associated with coal mining districts, and trigonotarbids are found less frequently after this stage. While it is tempting to associate this with biological events - such as a putative 'Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse' dating to ca. 305 Ma - it is difficult to differentiate the effects of genuine extinction patterns from artefacts caused by fewer appropriate localities in the economically less relevant latest Carboniferous and Early Permian strata. Nevertheless, trigonotarbids became extinct at some point after the Early Permian and loss of the Coal Measures forests remains one of the most likely possible causes. (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An annotated catalogue of the horseshoe crabs (Chelicerata: Xiphosura) in the collections of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is presented. The collection contains no type material, but representatives of all four currently recognised living species are present. These are Limulus polyphemus (Linnaeus, 1758) from the North American East coast, and Tachypleus gigas (Müller 1785), Tachypleus tridentatus (Leach, 1819) and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda (Latreille, 1802) all from South-East Asia. Originally accessioned (in part) among the crustaceans, some material is related to the historically significant collectors Fedor Jagor, Hans Sauter and (probably) David Friedrich Weinland. The Berlin museum also hosts a number of high-quality historical anatomical preparations, some of which are also figured here for completeness (© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new harvestman (Arachnida: Opiliones) from Baltic amber (Palaeogene: Eocene; ca. 44-49 Ma) is described as Piankhi steineri n. gen., n. sp. This enigmatic fossil expresses long, slender pedipalps without a tarsal claw, which is characteristic for the suborder Dyspnoi. The chelicerae are notably enlarged and the dorsal body surface is formed from a carapace with a separate prosomatic tergite ( metapeltidium), plus a large opisthosomal scute (or scutum parvum). However these characters, combined with the distinctly spiny limbs and further rows of spines across the fossil's opisthosoma, have no parallel among the modern dyspnoid harvestmen that we are aware of. The fossil resolves features reminiscent of modern members of the dyspnoid families Ceratolasmatidae, Nipponopsalididae, Ischyropsalididae and Sabaconidae, but does not show unequivocal apomorphies of any one particular family. We must entertain the possibility that this is an extinct body plan from the Eocene of north-central Europe, and we tentatively refer the fossil to a new genus in an unresolved position among the Ischyropsalidoidea (Dyspnoi). An amorphous triangular structure behind the anal region is assumed to be faecal matter, rather than part of the original anatomy. (© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]