Collected over 200 years ago.

Between 1817 and 1835, Austrian naturalist Johann Natterer spent 18 years exploring Brazil, traveling thousands of kilometers and collecting an extraordinary diversity of wildlife. Among the thousands of insects he collected were specimens whose scientific story was still waiting to be told.
Now, in a new publication in Evolutionary Systematics, KLI postdoctoral fellow Marcelo Domingos de Santis, together with A. Camargo (Natural History Museum Vienna), describes a new species, Prophorostoma nattereri, a previously unknown fly species collected during Natterer’s remarkable expedition and preserved at the Natural History Museum Vienna for over two centuries.
This discovery highlights the enduring value of natural history collections: specimens collected centuries ago can still reveal new species and transform our understanding of biodiversity. An intriguing possibility remains: the species may already be extinct.

Publication:
de Santis MD, Camargo A (2026) A new species of Prophorostoma Townsend (Diptera, Tachinidae) collected by Johann Natterer during the Austrian scientific expedition to Brazil (1817–1835). Evolutionary Systematics 10(2): 403-408. https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.10.204851