Curation of Zoological Collections · Curation of Zoological Collections . Part 1. Entomological Collections . a) What is the general purpose of natural history collections? b) Collecting

Managing and Curating Museum Collections II:

Curation of Zoological Collections Part 1: Entomological Collections [im Rahmen des Workshopprogramms der „Goethe Graduate Academy“ (GRADE), 19. I. 2012]

Wolfgang A. Nässig Entomologie II, Senckenberg, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main [email protected] Sektionswebsite: http://www.senckenberg.de/entomologie-II Publikationsliste: http://www.saturnia.de/publications PDF dieser Veranstaltung: http://www.saturnia.de/lehre

Entomologie II

Curation of Zoological Collections Part 1. Entomological Collections a) What is the general purpose of natural history collections? b) Collecting insects c) Killing insects d) Preparation (“setting”) of insects e) Documentation and labelling f) DNA analysis g) Collection of insects h) Storage and maintenance of entomological collections i) Cataloguing

Zoological Collections I, W. A. Nässig, 19. I. 2012 2

Natural History Collections a) What is the purpose of natural history collections? • History (“curiosity cabinets”)





Zoological Collections I, W. A. Nässig, 19. I. 2012 5 1999, ISBN: 0-7506-0961-3


Modern collections: • Museums are scientific heritage of mankind — The type concept

http://iczn.org/ — The International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature responsible for: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted-sites/iczn/code/ — The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (“The Code”)

ICZN, Article 61. Principle of Typification. 61.1. Statement of the Principle of Typification. Each nominal taxon in the family, genus or species groups has actually or potentially a name-bearing type. The fixation of the name-bearing type of a nominal taxon provides the objective standard of reference for the application of the name it bears. ...



Modern collections: • Museums are scientific heritage of mankind — The type concept • Determination

Morphological comparison to type specimens or reliably determined specimens in the collection


= 1 or 2 species?

Phot.: Lepiforum (www.lepiforum.de, unter Bestimmungshilfe: = 2 Arten)


Modern collections: • Museums are scientific heritage of mankind — The type concept • Determination • Morphological study: external morphology, genitalia morphology, comparison with other individuals


O. latruncula Phot.: Lepiforum

Natural History Collections a) What is the purpose of natural history collections? •History (“curiosity cabinets”)

Modern collections: •Museums are scientific heritage of mankind — The type concept •Determination •Morphological study: external morphology, genitalia morphology, comparison with other individuals

Zoological Collections I, W. A. Nässig, 19. I. 2012 9 Phot. P. Zub


Modern collections: • Museums are scientific heritage of mankind — The type concept • Determination • Morphological study: external morphology, genitalia morphology, comparison with other individuals



Modern collections: • Museums are scientific heritage of mankind — The type concept • Determination • Morphological study: external morphology, genitalia morphology, comparison with other individuals Genitalia morphology is the classical way for species identification and still a necessary standard method — no DNA study alone can overcome this method, only a phylogenetic analysis based on an integration of results of different methods can deliver somehow reliable results (“Integrative taxonomy” or integrative phylogenetic reasoning).



Modern collections: • Museums are scientific heritage of mankind — The type concept • Determination • Morphological study: external morphology, genitalia morphology, comparison with other individuals • Variability analysis (biogeographically based [statistical] analysis)



Modern collections: • Museums are scientific heritage of mankind — The type concept • Determination • Morphological study: external morphology, genitalia morphology, comparison with other individuals • Variability analysis (biogeographically based [statistical] analysis) • DNA analysis (if specimens have not been wrongly treated or are too old)

http://www.boldsystems.org “Barcode of Life” ca. 560 base pairs of the mitochondrial DNA of the cytochrome-c oxidase, subunit I (COI)



Modern collections: • Museums are scientific heritage of mankind — The type concept • Determination • Morphological study: external morphology, genitalia morphology, comparison with other individuals • Variability analysis (biogeographically based [statistical] analysis) • DNA analysis (if specimens have not been wrongly treated or are too old) • Why are collections of insects (invertebrates) no problem for species protection issues?



Modern collections: • Museums are scientific heritage of mankind — The type concept • Determination • Morphological study: external morphology, genitalia morphology, comparison with other individuals • Variability analysis (biogeographically based [statistical] analysis) • DNA analysis (if specimens have not been wrongly treated or are too old) • Why are collections of insects (invertebrates) no problem for species protection issues?

• To summarize: A scientific collection is a database containing not just metadata (i.e., data about data), but the original data (= specimens!) themselves, always available for further new research with new methods


Entomological collections b) Collecting insects

• Collecting methods: net light sugar bait or other baits many different trap types ......











Download unter: http://www.nw-fva.de/index.php?id=233


• Collecting methods: net light sugar bait or other baits many different trap types personal searching by eye, ......


Entomological collections c) Killing insects

Killing jars Traps with alcohol Injection of ammonium solution with nicotine .......


Entomological collections c) Killing insects

Killing jars Traps with alcohol Injection of ammonium solution with nicotine .......


Entomological collections d) Preparation (“setting”) of insects







... and practical demonstration by Massimo Terragni, technical assistant


Entomological collections e) Documentation and labelling

Labelling for different purpose


Never forget exact and correct labelling!

Entomological collections e) Documentation and labelling

Labelling for different purpose: violet: protocol numbers and photos (together with written documentation elsewhere) green: fill-out labels (by hand) for exact date bright blue: donation or purchase labels bright green: dissection labels (one for the specimen, one for the genitalia slide or vial) reddish: type labels (holotype/paratype) dark yellow: labels from the SMFL type catalogue bright yellow: barcode numbers (labels for the specimens)


Entomological collections f) DNA analysis


Entomological collections g) Collection of insects


... and further examples in personal demonstration ...

Entomological collections h) Storage and maintenance of entomological collections


... and again further examples in personal demonstration ...

... humidity

Feeding museum beetle larvae ...

... light ...

Entomological collections i) Cataloguing ... an endless question.

• There is no way to produce a catalogue of about a million or more stored specimens (no manpower, no time, no sense in doing so without verification).

• Old catalogues here are incomplete, records are not individually verified with original literature and specimens and often contain errors, and only a specialist for a given group can perform such serious verifications. Neither a student, a technical assistant nor a scientist specialised for another group can do such work.

• Type catalogues are nevertheless very necessary, should be accessible via internet, but must fulfill high standards in reliability to be of any real help.

• However, original data (= specimens!) is always better than just metadata (i.e., just data about data).

• The Senckenberg platform SeSam is not yet in use by section Entomology II.



The End

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Curation of Zoological Collections · Curation of Zoological Collections . Part 1. Entomological Collections . a) What is the general purpose of natural history collections? b) Collecting