Insect Collection
The Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University is home to the
largest and fastest growing insect collection in the south central and
southwestern United States. At the end of 1999, the collection housed
an estimated 1.86 million fully curated specimens. Historically, most
of the systematists associated with the collection have concentrated
their research efforts on the insect faunas of the southwestern United
States and Mexico. This emphasis has continued in recent years and the
collection contains extensive holdings from these areas, many of which
represent unique ecological zones. Texas A&M has one of the most sustained
efforts among university collections to accumulate insect material from
Mexico. Texas A&M systematists have participated in numerous cooperative
activities with Mexican entomologists and many Mexican entomologists
have visited the collection to pursue joint or individual research projects.
Recently, Texas A&M systematists and systematists in Mexico have conducted
joint workshops on various aspects of the Mexican fauna and on methods
for studying insect biodiversity. Opportunities for collaboration between
Mexican systematists and Texas A&M personnel in research, collection
development and training of students seem virtually unlimited. Some specific
areas of strength of the collection are: Coleoptera (especially Chrysomelidae
and Curculionidae), Diptera (especially muscoid Diptera), Heteroptera
(especially Miridae) and Hymenoptera (especially Chalcidoidea, Braconidae
and Ichneumonidae). Special collections of significance include: the
Clarence D. Johnson Bruchid Collection (200,000 specimens of adult bruchids
and associated parasitoids); the Roy O. and Connie A. Kendall Collection
of Lepidoptera (100,000 specimens of adults and larvae with extensive
biological data, currently being transferred to TAMU); the William Chamberlain
Collection (>100,000 specimens of general insects); the Waste Isolation
Pilot Project Collection (over 20,000 specimens from southeastern New
Mexico); the Burruss McDaniel Scale Insect and Mite Collection (15,500
slides with library); the P. T. Riherd Collection of Lepidoptera (6,500
specimens of larvae and adults); and the W. S. Creighton Synoptic Collection
of Ants (1,606 specimens in 457 species-level taxa).
Collection Facilities
The collection is housed on the second floor of the Minnie Belle Heep Building
on the West Campus of Texas A&M University. Space for the collection and
associated laboratories and offices is as follows: collection room I (rm.
216), 1,485 sq. ft.; collection room II (rm. 211), 475 sp. ft.; wet storage
room, 214 sq. ft.; meeting/reading area, 400 sq. ft.; preparation room, 236
sq. ft.; associated research laboratories, 1543 sq. ft.; and associated offices,
426 sq. ft. The total square footage in the collection and associated rooms
is approximately 4,800 sq. ft.
Organization of Collection and Associated Faculty and Staff
The Insect Collection of the Department of Entomology is administered jointly
through the College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences, Texas A&M University, and
the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.
The principal collection staff are: Dr. John D. Oswald (Curator), Mr. Ed
Riley (Associate Curator / collection manager), and Ms. Jessica Usener (Collection
Assistant). Active faculty closely associated with the collection include
John D. Oswald (Assistant Professor), H. R. Burke (Professor & Curator Emeritus),
A. Cognato (Assistant Professor), J. C. Schaffner (Professor Emeritus), R.
A. Wharton (Professor) and J. B. Woolley (Professor). Others in the TAMU
System with systematics interests are Charles Cole (extension entomology
[retired])-Thysanoptera; Allen Dean (Research Assistant in pecan entomology)-Araneae;
Harry Howell (Senior Research Associate in urban entomology)-Isoptera; John
Jackman (Professor and Extension Specialist)-Mordellidae and Buprestidae.
Description of Collection
At the end of 1999, the collection contained approximately 1.86 million specimens,
including 1.62 million pinned, 221,000 in alcohol and 27,800 on slides. The
collection is composed primarily of insects, but also includes growing collections
of mites, ticks, spiders and other terrestrial arthropod groups. The orders
of insects are represented approximately as follows: Coleoptera 40% (of insect
holdings), Hymenoptera 20%, Heteroptera-Homoptera 14%, Diptera 9%, Lepidoptera
8%, other orders 9%. The largest part of the collection consists of pinned
insect specimens stored in unit trays in Cornell-style drawers housed in
48-drawer steel cabinets. The collection has 137 cabinets containing about
6,600 drawers. The arrangement of families and genera within orders follows
phylogenetic systems. A computerized, species-level, inventory has been completed
for approximately 95% of the collection. A policy of minimum use of fumigant
has been adopted in the collection. A separate room is used for storage of
specimens in alcohol. Specimens sorted to genus and species are preserved
in neoprene-stoppered 4 dram vials in wooden racks. The collection contains
approximately 17,400 vials of insects, spiders and ticks. Most of this material
is determined to species and the remainder to family level. The spider collection
is housed in a separate cabinet and the tick collection is in cotton-stoppered
vials in jars. Unsorted samples in alcohol are stored in freezers.
History of the Collection
The Texas A&M University Insect Collection was started by E. D. Sanderson during
the period 1902-1904. Separate insect collections were maintained for many
years by the Division of Entomology of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station
and the Department of Entomology of Texas A&M College (now Texas A&M University).
The Department had responsibility for teaching and most of its material was
accumulated for instructional purposes; however, some research and reference
collections were also maintained. In addition to the original Sanderson material,
the departmental collection contained specimens purchased from W. S. Blatchley,
Orthoptera and Hemiptera collected by V. A. Little and H. G. Johnston, respectively,
and a considerable amount of other general material accumulated over the years.
The Division collection grew considerably during the 1920's and 1930's, mostly
under the supervision of H. J. Reinhard. After World War II the teaching and
research activities in entomology at Texas A&M were combined under the present
Department of Entomology. This move, made official in 1947, brought together
the two insect collections, which had been maintained separately in College
Station since their beginnings in the early 1900's. An Experiment Station project
was approved in 1948 to support taxonomic research in the Department and to
provide for developing and maintaining the collection. H. J. Reinhard was in
charge of the project and he began by consolidating and rearranging the two
collections which had previously been stored mostly in Schmitt boxes. The specimens
were transferred to Cornell-style drawers in steel cabinets and the unit tray
system was adopted. The 1950's constituted an active period of expansion of
the Texas A&M collection. The help of many specialists was solicited to obtain
authoritative identifications and exchanges were made to broaden the geographic
and taxonomic scope of the collection. H. J. Reinhard remained in charge of
the collection until 1959, at which time this responsibility was assumed by
H. R. Burke. At the time of this change, the collection was estimated to contain
nearly 300,000 specimens. Heteropterist J. C. Schaffner joined the faculty
of entomology as a systematist in 1963. A full-time Assistant Curator (collection
manager) was added to the staff in 1975. The collection was moved to its present
location in the Heep Center in 1977. Hymenopterists R. A. Wharton and J. B.
Woolley joined the systematics faculty in 1981 and 1983, respectively. Edward
Riley, the current Assistant Curator, was employed in 1988, and neuropterist
J. D. Oswald joined the faculty in 1995. In 2000, molecular systematist Anthony
Cognato was added to the systematics faculty, Edward Riley became Associate
Curator and Jessica Usener was hired as the collection's first permanent half-time
Collection Assistant. Through the efforts of current and past faculty, graduate
students and other collection associates, the TAMUIC has developed extensive
collections from throughout the southwestern U. S., Mexico and the northern
neotropics. In recent years, several significant collections have been added
through donations, notably, the Kendall and Johnson collections. Additions
to the collection generated by the new faculty added during the 1980's and
1990's has steadily increased the size of the collection and, at an average
annual growth rate of 93,000 specimens per year over the last seven years,
the Texas A&M University Insect Collection is now in its most active period
of expansion since its establishment in the early 1900's.
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