Prof. Dr. Michael Ohl

Scientific Head of Collection

Michael.Ohl@mfn.berlin+49 0 30 889 140 - 8507
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Department:
Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery

Together with Dr. Bonnie Blaimer, I am the scientific head  for the Hymenoptera and Neuropterida collections. I am responsible for the aculeate Hymenoptera (stinging wasps and bees) – without the ants – and for the Neuropterida (lacewings and relatives).

I work in the collections:
Hymenoptera and Neuropterida

Vita

I studied biology, philosophy and the history of science in Kiel and Göttingen and have been working at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin for many years. I was a co-founder of the Center for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery at MfN. Since 2020 I have also been an adjunct professor of evolutionary systematics at the Humboldt University Berlin. In addition to my scientific work on insects, especially Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants), I work on the theory and history of biology and especially on biological ordering systems.

I regularly appear in public in various formats and write popular science books. My most recent publications were “Expeditions to the First of Their Kind – Extraordinary Animals and the History of Their Discovery” (DTV) in 2022 and “Wasps – A Portrait” (Matthes and Seitz Berlin) in 2023.

Publications

Heyne, E., Kaiser, K., Kilbourne, B., von Oheimb, P.V., von Oheimb, K.C.M., von Rintelen, T., Lentge-Maaß, N., Heumann, I., Schwarz, D., Berger, F., Quaisser, C., Ohl, M., Hoffmann, A., Bilder von: Wolff, E. (2025). 1.2 Sammlung, Forschung und die Zukunft des Sammelns. In Kaiser, K., Heumann, I. (Hrsg.), Umgang mit kolonialen Objekten der Naturkunde: Empfehlungen, Objekte, Reflexionen (1. Auflage, 46-63). Dresden: Sandstein Kultur. URL: https://www.sandstein-kultur.de/shop/umgang-mit-kolonialen-objekten-der-naturkunde

Machado, R., Li, H., Ohl, M. (2025). Solving taxonomic and nomenclatural problems among the Neotropical species of the family Mantispidae (Insecta, Neuroptera). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, 72(1), 57-83. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/dez.72.148626Open Access

Pham, P., Ohl, M., Nguyen, A., Nguyen, D. (2025). Taxonomy of the genus Chalybion Dahlbom, 1843 (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) from Vietnam, with description of a new species. Zootaxa, 5679(4), 573-584. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5679.4.6

Ehlers, S., Li, H., Kirschey, L., Ohl, M. (2024). A new species of the mantidfly genus Euclimacia from Vietnam (Neuroptera, Mantispidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, 71(2), 255-264. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/dez.71.123553Open Access

Li, H., De Zhuo, Wang, B., Nakamine, H., Yamamoto, S., Zhang, W., Jepson, J.E., Ohl, M., Aspöck, U., Aspöck, H., Tin Nyunt, T., Engel, M.S., Benton, M.J., Donoghue, P., Liu, X. (2024). A Double-Edged Sword: Evolutionary Novelty Along Deep-Time Diversity Oscillation in an Iconic Group of Predatory Insects (Neuroptera: Mantispoidea). Systematic Biology, 74(3), 395-420. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syae068

Heumann, I., Vennen, M., Stoecker, H. (Hrsg.). (2024). Deconstructing Dinosaurs: The History of the German Tendaguru Expedition and Its Finds, 1906-2023. Brill. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004691063Open Access

Li, H.Y., De Zhuo, Wang, B., Nakamine, H., Yamamoto, S., Zhang, W.W., Ling, J.N., Ohl, M., Aspöck, U., Aspöck, H., Liu, X.Y. (2023). New genera and species of Mantispoidea (Insecta, Neuroptera) from the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, Myanmar. Palaeoentomology, 6(6), 549–611. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.6.6.1

Krichilsky, E., Sann, M., Ohl, M. (2025). Systematics of Sphecidae sensu lato : Past, Present, and Future—Quantifying Diversity, Taxonomy, and Phylogeny. Insect Systematics and Diversity, 9(6), ixaf037. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixaf037Open Access

Stoecker, H., Ohl, M. (2024). Ch. 14: Taxonomies at Tendaguru: How the Berlin Dinosaurs Got Their Names. In Vennen, M., Stoecker, H., Heumann, I. (Hrsg.), Deconstructing Dinosaurs: The History of the German Tendaguru Expedition and Its Finds, 1906-2023 (233-254). Brill. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004691063_015Open Access

Ardila-Camacho, A., Machado, R.J.P., Ohl, M., Contreras-Ramos, A. (2024). A camouflaged diversity: taxonomic revision of the thorny lacewing subfamily Symphrasinae (Neuroptera, Rhachiberothidae). ZooKeys, 1199, 1-409. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1199.115442Open Access

Ohl, M. (2025). Taxonomien. Wie Ordnung in die Natur gebracht wird.. (Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin, Neue Folge, 58, 03) [Sitzungsbericht]. Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin. URL: https://www.berlin-universities-publishing.de/journals/journals-a-z/index.html#faq_sbergnf