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Page last updated 04/14/06. URL is http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/irc/ircintro.html.
Insect Research Collection
This article is offered in part to make the systematics community more aware of the resources in the University of Wisconsin Insect Research Collection (IRC). The Insect and Spider Collections of the World list this collection with the symbol [IRCW]=[UWEM](Arnett et al, 1993). It is hoped this article and other efforts by the staff will lead to greater visibility of the collection and stimulate loan activity by the systematics community.
In the early 1950's the Insect Research Collection of the Department of Entomology was kept by the instructor teaching insect identification in King Hall. For growth this early collection of about a half dozen cabinets depended on donations from faculty, students and interested amateurs. Early efforts emphasized collecting Lepidoptera and Coleoptera because of their broad appeal and economic importance. Professor C.L. Fluke deposited his worldwide collection of 16,050 syrphid flies in the IRC in 1959. Fluke's collection was the result of forty years of work and is one of the best in North America. Professor William S. Marshall's extensive general collection was transferred from the Zoology Department to the IRC in the 1970's. Marshall's collection represented a lifetime of work collecting and trading Lepidoptera and Coleoptera with other collectors across the United States. When Russell Laboratories was constructed in 1963, 1,141 feet of floor on the east wing of the third floor was dedicated by the department as a collection facility.
Mr. Steven Krauth was hired as Academic Curator in 1978. Krauth has developed two areas of the collection: Curculionidae and Microhymenoptera. Many of the Microhymenoptera specimens were collected in malaise traps by personnel of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Samples were collected weekly from four sequential summers in seven Wisconsin counties spread across the state. The samples were collected in conjunction with a recovery program for released parasitoids of the Gypsy Moth. Processing the Microhymenoptera portion of the collection has proceeded at about 4,000 specimens per year for the past ten years.
Dr. Daniel K. Young was hired in October of 1982. His area of systematic expertise lies with the larvae and adults of Coleoptera, particularly Pyrochroidae and related Heteromera. His personal collection of Coleoptera numbers approximately 200,000 larvae and adults; he has been permanently transferring several thousand specimens to the IRC each year for the past two years and will continue to do so in the future.
Dr. G.R. DeFoliart donated his collection of 439 Culicidae, approximately 1,500 slide mounted Phthiraptera and 465 Chloropidae to the IRC in 1991. In 1993 Dr. Robert J. Dicke donated his worldwide collection of mosquitos numbering approximately 14,000 point mounts and 6,000 slide mounts. Also in 1993, Dr. C. J. Dennis donated his research collection of approximately 10,000 Wisconsin Membracidae.
The IRC is housed in the Department of Entomology, rooms 346, 346a-c Russell Laboratories; it consists of one main collection room and three adjoining rooms.
There is a preparation room with a chemical bench and sink adjoining the main collection area. The wet lab area has space for four visitors, project workers, volunteers or students.
The C.L. Fluke Reference Room housing taxonomic literature also adjoins the main collection area. Reprints are stored by family and order in file pockets arranged on book shelves. The reference room has 400 linear feet of shelf space and approximately 700,000 reprints.
The Microscope and Computer Room adjoins the main collection area. There are kneehole spaces for four people.
The IRC has a Pentium® IV computer connected to the departmental local area network (LAN) dedicated to insect collection database mangement and email, and one Hewlett Packard Laser Jet 6P printer. A Pentium II® computer is also connected to the LAN and is primarily used for word processing. A Power Macintosh 7300/200 is used solely for database management and is also connceted to the LAN.
The IRC operates within the Department of Entomology, in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The Chairman of the Department is Walter Goodman. Molly Jahn is the dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
IRC operating funds come primarily from the Department of Entomology annual budget and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, which is in turn determined by the campus administration. Additional funds have been secured in the form of small grants from the University of Wisconsin Natural History Museums Council, the Center for Biology Education and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; we are also working closely with the UW Foundation to attract outside funding for the IRC.
The Distinguished Academic Curator is generally the contact person for day-to-day operations such as insect specimen loans, identification requests, assistance requests for literature references and/or reprint searches of the C.L. Fluke reference room, preparation techniques, educational tours of hallway exhibit areas, and loan of traveling display materials.
The IRC contains about 2.5 million pinned and preserved insects with primary geographic emphasis on Wisconsin and the Great Lakes Region.
Ordinal taxonomic strengths are roughly as follows:
Types are kept in a separate cabinet in the microscope/computer room. Our primary types include 36 holotypes; additional "types" consist of the following: 11 allotypes, 13 autotypes, 56 metatypes, 5 homeotypes, 1197 paratypes and paratopotypes.
Voucher specimens come primarily from research studies of University of Wisconsin staff and graduate students and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources invertebrate inventory projects.
The collection of pinned material is kept in 193 USNM cabinets (twelve drawers per cabinet) stacked two high. (cabinets measure 21 1/2" deep including handle x 19 1/2" wide x 43 1/8" high) 164 lbs each including twelve drawers.
The collection is arranged alphabetically, species within genera and so on through ordinal level. This arrangement is a compromise in view of the lack of adequate staffing and flexible space to rearrange orders as new phylogenies and catalogs are published, and the fact that much of our user audience has limited, if any, familiarity with taxonomic catalogs. Within drawers, pinned specimens are arranged in foam bottomed unit trays. All the old cork unit trays were replaced by foam unit trays in 1979-80 as part of general collection improvement. Each determined species occupies its own unit tray(s) and each unit tray has its own header label.
Twelve cabinets are presently set aside for departmental support. Nine cabinets house teaching collections and provide the nucleus of our teaching collection reserve for upper level taxonomy courses (mature insects). The remaining three cabinets are devoted, one each, to instructional collections for medical entomology, biological control, and "exotic insects" used in outreach programs.
The "wet" collection consists of specimens stored in alcohol. Bulk samples collected in alcohol that have been sorted to order or family and await further preparation and curation are stored in alcohol in 8 wooden cabinets (dimensions 23" wide, 20" deep, 43" high, approximate weight 130 lbs) stacked two high. Identified immatures and adult insects that should be stored in alcohol are stored in glass shell vials (1 or 3 dram size) in vial racks which are in turn stored in 11 metal cabinets stacked two high (cabinet dimensions: 19" deep, 37.5" high, 25.75" wide).
Slide mounted material is stored in 100-slide capacity slide boxes. The slide boxes occupy 30 linear feet of book shelf space in the main collection area. There are approximately 24,000 slides primarily mounted in Canada Balsam.
The IRC is the only collection in the state of Wisconsin subscribing to a mission of representing the insect fauna of Wisconsin and Great Lakes region. The only other substantial insect collection in the state is the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM). The IRC is the cumulative efforts of amateur and professional entomologists in this state for almost 165 years. Some of our strengths include:
Early emphasis was on the Lepidoptera. Dr. William S. Marshall was an avid Wisconsin Lepidopterist. His collection forms the core of the collection, along with Dr. L.W. Griewisch's material dating back to before the turn of the century. More recently, Dr. William E. Miller identified and contributed to the Olethreutidae in our collection and much of the material used in his monograph (1987) came from this collection.
Dr. C. L. Fluke deposited his collection of 16,050 syrphids in the IRC. His collection represents 40 years of collecting and exchanging syrphids from around the world. Dr. R. Dicke recently donated his mosquito collection of 16,436 pinned specimens and 2,711 slide mounts.
Dr. Daniel Young is in the process of donating parts of his personal authoritatively identified research/ reference collection of Coleoptera to the IRC. In 1992, Dr. Young donated 2,120 Carabidae; in 1993, he donated 2,387 Chrysomelidae. This material together with the W.S. Marshall materials, specimens collected by R. D. Shenefelt and the Forest Entomology group account for the IRC's strength in this group.
Dr. Young's research program emphasizes taxonomy, phylogeny and natural history of Coleoptera. Contributions of Young and his students promise to make the Coleoptera one of several focal groups for the future.
In recent years S. J. Krauth has enhanced the Microhymenoptera representation in the collection by 70,413 specimens by preparing and curating malaise trap samples collected in conjunction with a Gypsy Moth parasitoid recovery program (1974-1978). Chalcidoidea, Proctotrupoidea, Bethyloidea, Ceraphronoidea and Cynipoidea have been prepared on card points, labeled and identified. Identifications by Krauth and outside specialists have been made to the level current knowledge permits. The entire Hymenoptera section of the IRC is housed in 312 USNM drawers. Dr. Steven Heydon (University of California-Davis) has identified much of our Pteromalidae; Dr. John Huber (Biosystematics Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario) Mymaridae; Dr. J.M. Heraty (Biosystematics Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario) Eucharitidae; Dr. Arnold Menhke (National Museum of Natural History) Bethylidae: Dr. John Luhman (Minnesota Department of Agriculture) Ichneumonidae; and Dr. Lynn Kimsey (University of California-Davis) Chrysididae and Tiphiidae. This emphasis on "natural enemies" offers critical support to our strong departmental research programs in biological control (Dr. Daniel Mahr) and entomophagous insects (Dr. Michael Strand). Dr. J.T. Medler and Dr. Robert E. Fye deposited approximately 20,000 bees from their various research projects. Dr. David Post collected and studied Wisconsin ants and deposited his research material (1,347 specimens) in the IRC.
The IRC serves a variety of users from precollege students of all ages that visit our educational displays to visiting scientists from around the state, the US and the world. Visitors to the research collection are welcome and, to the extent possible, are provided with space and a reasonable amount of equipment to examine and study specimens of interest. A literature collection is associated with IRC and is available for visitor use on site. The Steenbock library is in an adjacent building and includes extensive collections of entomological literature. The IRC subscribes to ENT-LIST, an electronic mail listserver coordinated by Mark O'Brien at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Other email lists we subscribe to include CLASS-L, ENTOMO-L, ECOLOG-L, MUSEUM-L, BUG-NET, CONSBIO and DARWIN-L. The IRC has Internet capabilities including ADP, FTP, Gopher, and remote Library Database searching capability via PC.
The primary long range goals of the IRC are to: 1) to make quality research material available from Wisconsin and Great Lakes insect fauna, 2) be a depository for voucher specimens of research done in the department and 3) support educational programs by developing, housing and curating teaching collections, display packages, exhibit areas and portable exhibit materials for use in a variety of campus and public education programs.
Our acquisition policy reflects these goals. Additional material is being added to the collection in accordance with three priorities. Top priority is given to material from Wisconsin and the Great Lakes Region especially if it is from a historically poorly collected habitat or a designated "State Scientific Area." Secondary priority is associated with voucher specimens from research done in the department or state agencies such as the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Tertiary priority is assigned to materials of use for instructional purposes.
In accordance with our acquisition priorities, the departmental Museum Committee either accepts donations and other acquisitions or, in a few cases, make recommendations to the faculty as a whole for departmental approval. Ownership of items given to the collection must transfer to the IRC and the University of Wisconsin, thus making distribution of acquired materials to specialists possible without lengthy negotiations.
Exchanges with other collections are sought as a way to improve our holdings of groups, particularly higher taxa, which may not be strongly represented in the collection or to fill in taxonomic representation in groups we have identified as particular strengths. We have found this to be a cost effective way to acquire new taxa, to promote new interactions with colleagues elsewhere, and to increase our visibility in the systematics and biodiversity communities.
Generally, loans are available to qualified specialists with institutional associations, although the director and curator may make exceptions (e.g. recognized amateurs and specialists without institutional affiliations). The following statement is on our loan forms, a copy of which all borrowers sign and return to acknowledge receipt:
Our loans are standardly for a period of four years at the end of which time a loan extension request or the return of the specimens is expected. All type material is to be returned. All identified specimens and all type specimens designated from material originating from the Insect Research Collection are to be returned. Also, please return all unidentified specimens, marking (e.g. small colored card on bottom of pin) any desired for retention. These will be considered for return to you. Reprints of any publications resulting from work with these specimens would be much appreciated additions to our museum's literature collection. Acknowledgement of this collection in such publications is expected.
The University of Wisconsin Insect Research Collection (IRC) accepts the deposition of voucher specimens by students and staff of the university. Voucher specimens may sometimes be accepted from individuals not affiliated with the Universityof Wisconsin with the approval of the Director and Academic Curator.
Procedure for the deposition of voucher specimens is as follows:
All our future plans are tied to a critical space problem that we propose to resolve for the immediate future by remodeling the collection area and installing a compactor system. In order to strengthen our position to be the place in this state/region where material is deposited from biodiversity studies, natural areas surveys, and to accept further voucher material from students and scientists working in state scientific areas, the space problem must be solved. Commitments to these audiences require we be as creative as possible in securing funds to permit the collection to grow.
Within the next year space will need to be dedicated in the wet lab to house an extensive collection of aquatic insects (13 metal cabinets measuring 17.75" D x 35.75" W x 77.75" H and containing 752,709 specimens). This collection, recently donated by Dr. William Hilsenhoff represents more than 35 years of work sampling Wisconsin's aquatic environments. The collection is presently housed elsewhere in Russell Laboratories, and with Dr. Hilsenhoff's retirement we must now plan to receive this unique systematic resource.
As one of our strengths is the Microhymenoptera, a pilot project to computerize data from these specimens is underway. Membership in the Museum Computer Network and participation in the annual meetings has been useful in accelerating the learning curve by not repeating the errors of other museum projects.
Purchase of a critical point dryer for use in preparation of additional specimens to build the Microhymenoptera portion of the collection is also on our needs list. The literature advocates the use of a critical point dryer in the preparation of several groups of Microhymenoptera (Gordh, G. 1979. A Critical Point Dryer used as a method of Mounting Insects from Alcohol. Ent. News 90(1)57-59.)
As noted above, the only other substantial insect collection in the state is maintained by the MPM. The MPM recently received a National Science Foundation grant to enhance the study of tropical and Nearctic Lepidoptera. The IRC is negotiating with the MPM to cooperate on a proposed shift of some of our collection's Lepidoptera holdings.
The next Directory of Insect and Spider Collections of the World will list registered collections associated with IRC, including the following.
Plans to advise the scientific community of the availability or enhanced accessibility of the collection:
We have seriously considered strategies for increasing systematics community awareness of the IRC. Some of our recent efforts include:
Participation in the Spring Systematics Symposium, Field Museum of Natural History.
Invited participation in the Second Annual Workshop on Invertebrate Inventory and Monitoring in the National Parks.
Participation in the annual Association of Systematics Collections meetings.
Participation in the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections meetings and workshops.
Institutional membership in Biology Curator's Group (BCG). (BCG is a world wide association of curator's sharing developments in curatorial techniques.)
Within the Department of Entomology student driven requests have led to the offering of a course in Advanced Taxonomy with varying ordinal specialization (eg. Coleoptera, Diptera, Heteroptera, Hymenoptera). Students in the Advanced Taxonomy course are required to develop a specialty collection to some depth and deposit that material in the IRC.
On campus, the IRC participates in interdisciplinary programs such as Ways of Knowing Biology and Bridging the Gap. Ways of Knowing Biology is a program mandated by the chancellor to introduce talented freshman to scientific research. Bridging the Gap is a program designed by the Center for Biology Education to develop links between scientists on campus and teachers in area schools. These interdisciplinary programs promote student linkages with Entomology as an area of research and with the IRC as a resource.
The annual meeting of the Wisconsin Entomological Society brings entomologists from across the state to campus for the meeting and the IRC open house. It is hoped the open house and annual meeting will promote public and student volunteer activity in the collection. This year and as a direct result of this meeting, four interested voluteers from this campus and one student from a branch campus have prepared material in the IRC.
Brabant, Craig - Graduate Student - interest: Hymenoptera:
Mutillidae.
Biggs, Devon – Graduate Student – interest: oak
savanna insects
Capes, Michelle – Graduate Student – interest:
taxonomy
DeVries, Peter – Graduate Student – interest: bioinformatics
Dorshorst, John – Research Assistant – interest:
Coleoptera, especially Cleridae
Gruber, Jeffrey – Honorary Fellow - interest: Coleoptera,
especially Histeridae.
Hilsenhoff, Dr. William - Emeritus Professor - specialty: aquatic
insects.
Krauth, Steven J. - Distinguished Academic Curator - specialty:
parasitic Hymenoptera; Coleoptera especially Curculionidae.
Kriska, Nadine – Graduate Student - interest: Coleoptera,
especially Scarabaeoidea and Oedemeridae.
Lambrecht, Krista - Graduate Student – interest: Coleoptera,
especially Cerambycidae.
Marschelak, Dan - Graduate Student - interest Coleoptera
Price, Michele - Graduate Student - interest: Coleoptera, especially
Nitidulidae, mycophagous beetles.
Williams, Andrew - Honorary Fellow - specialty: prairie insect-plant
associations.
Young, Dr. Daniel K. - Professor and Director - specialty:
Coleoptera; general, especially heteromerous taxa; Pyrochroidae (larvae &
adults) of the world.
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