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The Field Museum's Division of Insects houses worldwide collections of Arthropoda (excluding Crustacea) that rank fifth in overall size among North American collections. At present, the collection includes approximately 4.1 million pinned insects and 7.3 million specimens or lots of insects and other arthropods in alcohol or on microscope slides. The collection receives heavy use by US and international visitors and borrowers. As part of the Division's conversion to KE-EMu collection management software in 2006-2007, several existing off-line collection databases are being made available online, including specimen catalogs of bat flies, lice, millipedes, scorpions, and types of other non-mite arachnids; species-level inventories of the beetle families Staphylinidae, Silphidae, Histeridae, Sphaeritidae, Synteliidae, Carabidae, and of Lepidoptera; species lists for other insect orders; and the bulk sample collection. The Diptera database previously online has been incorporated into EMu. Beetles- Coleoptera is by far the best represented and most heavily used insect order in The Field Museum collections, with unusually comprehensive material at the family and generic level. The collection of Palaearctic (Eurasian and North African) beetles is the most extensive in this hemisphere, as are collections from Australia, the Philippines and Micronesia for at least many beetle families. Central and South America are also exceptionally well represented, including perhaps the largest collection of Chilean beetles (including the Luis Peña collection) in existence. North American collections are significant, especially for the northeastern United States, where the addition of the N. M. Downie collection in 1992 provided nearly complete species representation for this area, including voucher specimens for a guide to beetle species of northeastern North America (Downie and Arnett 1996). Besides the Staphylinidae collection highlighted below, several other beetle families (e.g., Histeridae, Ptiliidae, Leiodidae, Cleridae, Mordellidae, Lucanidae) are unmatched among New World collections in world representation of genera and species and are probably surpassed only by the much older collections of The Natural History Museum (London) and the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (Paris). Our holdings of other families have tremendous strengths in particular regions, such as North American Elateridae, Buprestidae, Cleridae, Elmidae, Dryopidae, and Cerambycidae, South American Tenebrionidae (also world genera), or particular subtaxa, such as Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae. Staphylinid Beetles- Outstanding among Coleoptera is the collection of Staphylinidae, the second-largest beetle family with over 50,000 named species. Our collection of over one million specimens is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world, rich in species represented by types, with primary types (holotypes, lectotypes, neotypes, or syntypes) of over 7,000 species (rivaled only by The Natural History Museum in London). This family alone accounts for about a third of all loan use of the Division's collections. Among the historically important components are the collections of Max Bernhauer, Alexander Bierig, Ludwig Benick, David Kistner, and Orlando Park. Butterflies and Moths- The Lepidoptera collection stands out as the strongest of the other large insect orders, with good worldwide holdings of macrolepidoptera, both butterflies and moths. The single largest element is the worldwide Herman Strecker Collection of nearly 50,000 specimens, built up in the late 19th century and including over 450 types of species or subspecies described by Strecker or others. At the time of Strecker's death in 1901, his collection was the largest and most important private collection of butterflies and moths in the New World. Curatorial work in the Strecker Collection in the 1990s turned up previously unrecognized type material. Other strengths are North American Lepidoptera (about 75% of named species of Macrolepidoptera) and European moths. Vertebrate Ectoparasites-Another major element of The Field Museum collection is ectoparasites of vertebrates. Most significant among those are the bat fly families Streblidae and Nycteribiidae (Diptera); our holdings are unparalleled and include over 75% of the known world species, including types of 40% of known species. Recent surveys have expanded the collection to about 100,000 specimens, with new material being incorporated into cryostorage for ongoing molecular studies. We also have cosmopolitan collections with 50% of described tick species; about 30% of the sucking louse species; about 30% of the described flea species and types of over 250 species of fleas (holdings of fleas include the R. E. Lewis collection); and major holdings of parasitic mites from Australian and Neotropical hosts. Moreover, most of these specimens were collected by mammalogists and have excellent host data (usually associated with host voucher specimens). This makes the vertebrate ectoparasite collection a superb resource for parasite-host association and coevolutionary research, in addition to systematic and taxonomic studies. Other Insect Orders- Our collections of other insect orders are less comprehensive, but include some noteworthy elements, particularly in the Hymenoptera: the worldwide Robert Gregg ant collection (Formicidae) and part of the Alfred Kinsey collection of gall wasps (Cynipidae). Aside from the bat flies described above, the Diptera collection (74,000 specimens, over 150 primary types) is worldwide in scope, but strongest by far in Nearctic and Neotropical material; it includes the Sidney Camras collection. Arachnids-The collection houses representatives of all arachnid orders. In addition to the vertebrate parasites mentioned above, the collection contains major holdings in several additional mite groups, especially: Hydrachnidia (water mites; types of 90% of described North American species and numerous types from other areas), Neotropical Opilioacariformes, Australian and Neotropical Holothyrida, World Trigynaspida, New World Endeostigmata, World Trombiculidae (parasitic chiggers, including the R. B. Loomis collection numbering ~650,000 specimens and over 1,500 type slides), and arthropod-associated mites (especially World Eviphidoidea). The spider collection of nearly 100,000 lots is also of growing importance, with recent additions from Madagascar, southern Africa, Australia and Southeast Asia. A catalog of all identified arachnid types (excluding Acari) is forthcoming. Myriapods-The collection houses over 11,000 samples of millipedes sorted at least to order. The diplopod collection data are completely databased. The millipede type collection harbors well over 200 type lots, for which a published type catalog is available (Zootaxa 1005). The centipede collection contains approximately 4,000 lots and 65 type lots; a type catalog for these is due out in 2007. The bulk sample collection (see below) harbors extensive material, especially in the centipede order Geophilomorpha. Almost none of these have ever been sorted from the samples. Bulk Arthropod Samples- The Field Museum is one of the world's largest repositories of bulk arthropod samples, collected by museum staff and associates and by collaborators from numerous other institutions. The majority of these are samples of soil and litter faunas (mostly from forests) around the world, extracted by use of Berlese funnels or other means including deep-soil washing, and mostly stored in 70% ethanol (a few in 95% ethanol). Most samples have full ecological data. At around 15,000 samples, this is probably the largest such collection in existence. Most samples have had some taxa removed (e.g., beetles or mites), but still contain vast numbers of other arthropods. In addition to the soil and litter samples, there are also samples from some 4,000 trap collections (flight intercept, pitfall, dung- and carrion-baited pitfall, and blacklight) and small-scale pyrethrin-fogging of substrates such as logs. The spiders extracted from some of these samples provide an excellent example of the significance of this resource; they include representatives of some 70% of all spider families, including many that are generally rare in other collections. Similarly, the representation of Coleoptera from the bulk samples is extremely comprehensive at the family level - about 80% of described families and nearly two million specimens in alcohol. Recent sorting activities also yielded several specimens of extremely rare millipedes in the order Siphoniulida. Associate Curator Petra Sierwald’s participation in the current NSF-PBI grant focusing on the spider family Oonopidae will support, between 2006 and 2009, the sorting of well over 1,600 Berlese samples from tropical and subtropical forests. Much of the sorting of Field Museum’s bulk samples has been supported by grants to curators in the Division of Insects. For information on borrowing specimens from the Division of Insects, please download our loan policy (PDF format). Other Zoology Collections: Amphibians and Reptiles | Birds | Fishes | Insects | Invertebrates | Mammals |
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