The plant Carduncellus matritensis (Cardueae, Compositae) was formerly known from only a single locality: Cerro Negro in Madrid Province, Spain. It is one of the six endemic species of the Spanish flora considered to be extinct. The causes of its presumed extinction were anthropogenic: the growth of the city of Madrid subsumed the locality into the city, such that Cerro Negro is now a railway station. During 2021–2022 we discovered three new populations c. 50 km south of the type locality, with 130–166 mature individuals. Habitat fragmentation and degradation are the most significant threats facing the three populations. We categorize the conservation status of the species as Critically Endangered according to the IUCN Red List criteria. To avoid the loss of this species, we recommend both in situ (creation of micro-reserves) and ex situ (seed storage) conservation measures.

Excavation of Ptolemaic Period (ca. 309–30 BC) strata within Theban Tombs 11, 12, -399-, and UE194A by the Spanish Mission to Dra Abu el-Naga (also known as the Djehuty Project), on the west bank of the Nile River opposite Luxor, Egypt, yielded remains of at least 175 individual small mammals that include four species of shrews (Eulipotypha: Soricidae) and two species of rodents (Rodentia: Muridae). Two of the shrews (Crocidura fulvastra and Crocidura pasha) no longer occur in Egypt, and one species (Crocidura olivieri) is known in the country only from a disjunct population inhabiting the Nile delta and the Fayum. Although deposited in the tombs by humans as part of religious ceremonies, these animals probably derived originally from local wild populations. The coexistence of this diverse array of shrew species as part of the mammal community near Luxor indicates greater availability of moist floodplain habitats than occur there at present. These were probably made possible by a greater flow of the Nile, as indicated by geomorphological and palynological evidence. The mammal fauna recovered by the Spanish Mission provides a unique snapshot of the native Ptolemaic community during this time period, and it permits us to gauge community turnover in the Nile valley of Upper Egypt during the last 2000 years. It also serves as a relevant example for understanding the extinction and extirpation of mammal species as effects of future environmental changes predicted by current climatic models.

Ancient samples present a number of technical challenges for DNA barcoding, including damaged DNA with low endogenous copy number and short fragment lengths. Nevertheless, techniques are available to overcome these issues, and DNA barcoding has now been used to successfully recover parasite DNA from a wide variety of ancient substrates, including coprolites, cesspit sediment, mummified tissues, burial sediments and permafrost soils. The study of parasite DNA from ancient samples can provide a number of unique scientific insights, for example: (1) into the parasite communities and health of prehistoric human populations; (2) the ability to reconstruct the natural parasite faunas of rare or extinct host species, which has implications for conservation management and de-extinction; and (3) the ability to view in ‘real-time’ processes that may operate over century- or millenial-timescales, such as how parasites responded to past climate change events or how they co-evolved alongside their hosts. The application of DNA metabarcoding and high-throughput sequencing to ancient specimens has so far been limited, but in future promises great potential for gaining empirical data on poorly understood processes such as parasite co-extinction.