IOWA STATE INSECT COLLECTION (ISIC)

History

Collection dates back to the 1880s, when Herbert Osborn was on the faculty

Collection was originally combined with the ISU vertebrate collection

The first half of the 20th Century saw a number of renowned Hemipterists in residence: H. H. Knight, J. A. Slater, & H. M. Harris

History (cont.)

In 1972 the insect collection was separated from the rest of the Zoological Collection and moved to its current location

More recent taxonomic foci:

Siphonaptera (R. E. Lewis)

Diptera (J. L. Laffoon, W. A. Rowley, and G. W. Courtney)

Courtney also works on aquatic insects

Facilities

59 Cabinets containing 2215 Cornell Drawers

Estimated 1,000,000 pinned specimens

Additional slide and alcohol material (>50,000 specimens)

Existing work indatabasing and photomicroscopy

Collection Strenths

Diptera with 796 Drawers, including 76 of Mycetophilidae s.l!

Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, Siphonaptera

Larval Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, and Diptera

Aquatic Insects Large amounts of historic

material, dating back to the 1880s

Recent Work

2010 initiative to catalog specimens in the museum

Databasing project started shortly thereafter, focused on aquatic Diptera and Mycetophilidae s.l.

Current database includes 5935 specimens and 326 taxa

Recent Work (cont.)

Working with specimen imaging Focused on groups under active

research Experimenting with detailed images

of taxonomically informative structures

Synergistic activities: MIDGEPEET

NSF-funded “PEET” grant

Focus on selected aquatic Diptera (e.g., Blephariceridae, Chironomidae, Dixidae, Psychodidae, Ptychopteridae, Simuliidae, Thaumaleidae)

Collaboration of several institutions

Synergistic activities: BugGuide.net

BugGuide.net hosted & administered by ISU

Provides a forum for professional and amateur entomologists to cooperate

Looking for avenues of integration

Synergistic activities: Insect Zoo

Established in 1997

Outreach & in-house programming

Average annual activity (past 10 years): ≈250 programs to >17,000 participants

Focus on arthropod biodiversity & includes links to ISIC