The Linsenmaier Chrysididae collection housed in the Natur-Museum Luzern (Switzerland) and the main results of the related GBIF Hymenoptera Project (Insecta)
Author
Rosa, Paolo
Author
Bernasconi, Marco Valerio
Author
Wyniger, Denise
text
Zootaxa
2015
3986
5
501
548
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3986.5.1
10fa36d5-cc44-4e6c-a896-37976955addc
1175-5326
239400
0BC8E78B-2CB2-4DBD-B036-5BE1AEC4426F
The Linsenmaier
Chrysididae
collection
Walter Linsenmaier's
Chrysididae
collection is undoubtedly one of the most important collections in the world and may well be the most impressive in terms of the number of different
types
, taxa, and specimens collected. The collection includes 56,758 specimens, belonging to 2,412 taxa; 1,742 taxa are identified, 240 are labelled as “new taxa”, and 430 are unidentified. Of particular interest is the total number of typical specimens: approximately 4,380 belonging to 809 different species, subspecies and varietis, of which 802 are primary
types
(579
holotypes
, 6
lectotypes
, 5
neotypes
, 212
syntypes
) belonging to 605 species, subspecies and varietis and 3,596 are secondary
types
(262 allotypes, 3039
paratypes
, 295
paralectotypes
) belonging to 483 species, subspecies and variations. A large number of secondary
types
(664), belonging to 36 taxa, were not labelled as
types
but could be considered as
types
for different reasons (see the following paragraphs). On the other side, about
800 specimens
were labelled as
types
, but were found to be without
type
status (e.g. species never described, etc.; see the following paragraphs). The collection includes more primary
types
of
Chrysididae
than any other European museum:
450 in
Paris,
400 in
Budapest,
350 in
St. Petersburg, and
300 in
Berlin and London (data extrapolated from
Kimsey & Bohart 1991
). The collection also includes primary and secondary
types
described by other 29 authors (APPENDIX B).
The collection was acquired by the Natur-Museum Luzern in 2000 and transferred to the museum after Walter Linsenmaier's death in 2001. Thanks to funding from the GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) project, it was possible to catalogue, enter into the database, and reorganize the entire collection and all of the
types
. When acquired, the collection was in excellent condition, with perfectly prepared specimens. It consisted of six distinct smaller collections: types-collection, synoptic-collection, general-collection, doubles-collection, Perraudin's collection, and Naef's collection, as well as a few small miscellaneous boxes. During the GBIF databasing project the collections were merged, maintaining the same systematic order established by Linsenmaier.