Staff
Principal Museum Scientist
and Head of Department
Louise Coetzee MSc louise [dot] coetzee [at] nasmus [dot] co [dot] za
Louise Coetzee obtained her BSc at the University of Pretoria in 1972. Her career started as a Research Assistant at the Malaria Research Institute in Tzaneen, Limpopo Province. After relocating to Bloemfontein in 1978, she embarked on a career in Acarology at the National Museum, first as a Research Assistant trained by Dr C.M. Engelbrecht, and later as a Museum Scientist. She obtained an MSc (cum laude) in 1996. Thesis title: A re-evaluation of the Antarctic mite genus Maudheimia Dalenius & Wilson, 1958 (Acari, Oribatida). Louise is also the editor of Culna, the Museum's newsletter.
Louise enjoys bird watching and spends most of her leave on birding trips. She also learnt French in order to understand the phenomenal acarological works of François Grandjean.
Senior Museum Scientist
Lizel Hugo-Coetzee PhD lhugo [at] nasmus [dot] co [dot] za
Lizel Hugo-Coetzee obtained her BSc, BSc Hons and MSc at the University of the Free State, majoring in Entomology. She obtained her PhD in Conservation Ecology at Stellenbosch University in 2006. Her thesis title was: Spatial patterns in the microarthropod community associated with Azorella selago (Apiaceae) on the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands. Lizel spent a year on Marion Island collecting data for this degree. She started working at the National Museum in January 2006 as a Museum Scientist. Her main interest is the taxonomy of oribatid mites in South Africa, as well as some ecological aspects of oribatid mite communities.
Research Assistant
Vacant