Modernization of the Bohart Museum Mosquito Collections

摘要：博哈特博物馆蚊子收藏的现代化#0346603A赠款授予加州大学戴维斯分校，在L.金赛博士的指导下，对博哈特昆虫学博物馆(BME)的蚊子收藏进行现代化改造。2001至2002年间，向BME捐赠了四个蚊子标本，总计近175,000个标本。这些捐赠使BME的蚊子总数增加了150%，在之前384个物种的基础上增加了377个新物种。捐赠的材料中有许多未被描述的物种。每个捐赠的收藏品包括钉住的成虫、显微镜载玻片安装的幼虫和蛹，以及酒精保存的幼虫和蛹。有了这笔赠款，BME的工作人员将把捐赠收藏品的标本提高到可接受的策展标准，并将它们与现有的BME收藏品整合为一个整体。BME工作人员将解决许多捐赠收藏品的策展问题。首先，许多标本只标有代号，这些代号指的是收藏品附带的记录和田野书籍。这些标本将被适当地贴上标签，并输入博物馆收藏品数据库。其次，一些被钉住的试件是用腐蚀性的软木块安装的，并将使用适当的钉住介质重新安装。最后，所有酒精保存的标本都放在装有腐烂的橡胶或氯丁橡胶塞的玻璃瓶中，并将被转移到更合适的酒精瓶中。此外，通过这些藏品的管理过程，BME工作人员将培训本科生和研究生成为蚊子分类学和分类学方面的专家。在培训结束后，这些学生将完全有资格受雇于蚊子消减地区或病媒控制机构。蚊子是全世界最常见的病原体传播媒介。通过改进BME的收集，它将是唯一一个与BME规模相同的大学馆藏，因此它将用于培训下一代蚊子专家。此外，收集蚊子本身将在确定蚊子种类是否为疾病携带者方面发挥关键作用。从历史上看，昆虫病媒的识别一直是具有挑战性的，而且是基于多年来跨越大片地理区域精心积累的数据和标本。在纳入捐赠材料后，BME收藏将包括来自世界各地的标本，这些标本是在过去60年或更长时间里收集的。这将是西半球三个最大、最完整的蚊子采集之一。它将特别有价值，因为它位于加州大学戴维斯分校的校园里，这是西海岸昆虫传播疾病研究的中心。

Abstract: Modernization of the Bohart Museum Mosquito Collection, #0346603A grant has been awarded to the University of California at Davis under the direction of Dr. L. Kimsey to modernize the mosquito collections at the Bohart Museum of Entomology (BME). Between 2001 and 2002, four collections of mosquitoes totaling nearly 175,000 specimens were donated to the BME. These donations have increased the total number of mosquitoes at the BME by 150%, adding 377 new species to the previous holdings of 384 species. There are numerous undescribed species in the donated material. Each of the donated collections includes pinned adults, microscope slide-mounted larvae and pupae, and alcohol-preserved larvae and pupae. With this grant, the staff of the BME will bring the specimens of the donated collections up to acceptable curatorial standards, and intercalate them with the existing BME collection into one integrated whole.There are many curatorial issues with the donated collections that the staff of the BME will address. First, many of the specimens are labeled only with code numbers that refer to records and field books that accompany the collections. These specimens will be properly labeled and entered into the museum collection database. Second, some pinned specimens are mounted using corrosive cork blocks, and will be remounted using proper pinning media. Finally, all alcohol-preserved specimens are in glass vials with decaying rubber or neoprene stoppers, and will be transferred to more appropriate alcohol vials. In addition, through the process of curation of these collections, the BME staff will train undergraduate and graduate students as specialists in mosquito taxonomy and systematics. At the end of their training these students will be fully qualified for employment by mosquito abatement districts or vector control agencies.Mosquitoes are the most common vectors of pathogens worldwide. By improving the collection at the BME, it will be the only one of its size that is housed at a university, and because of this it will be used to train the next generation of mosquito specialists. Furthermore, the collection itself will play a critical role in the identification of mosquito species as disease carriers. Historically, the identification of insect vectors of disease has been challenging, and is based on the meticulous accumulation of data and specimens over many years, and across large geographical areas. After incorporating the donated material, the BME collection will include specimens from around the world, collected over the last 60 or more years. It will be one of the three largest and most complete mosquito collections in the Western Hemisphere. It will be particularly valuable because it is located on the campus of the University of California Davis, which is the west coast center for the study of insect-borne diseases.