Remediation and Curation of the University of California, Riverside, Collection of Aphytis

盾蚧小蜂是盾蚧科盾蚧的重要寄生蜂。 世界各地的经典和增强生物控制计划中使用的许多物种，包括类型和重要的凭证材料，都在加州大学滨江（UCR）的收藏品中有代表。 由于它们的微小尺寸，这些黄蜂通常被收藏家忽略，并且不会在大多数昆虫收藏中积累。 UCR系列包括CA。 30，000个Aphytis标本安装在ca. 5,000张幻灯片这些标本中的大多数（28，224）被固定在4，380个载玻片上的临时水溶性介质（Hoyer's）中。这些坐骑中有相当多的现在处于不同的腐烂阶段。 许多标本，包括许多模式标本，已经被损坏。 这是迫切需要保护的集合，转移到加拿大香脂，一个永久性的介质更适合保存标本在分类学上重要的集合微Hyplutera的显着部分。 标本也必须单独安装并正确标记。目前，大多数材料都是以平均每个载玻片6.67个标本的方式安装的。有时每张玻片上有一个以上的物种，而且标记得很差。 该项目将支持补救，并在UCR的Aphytis收集策展。 UCR的Aphytis收集形成了大卫罗森和保罗·德巴赫在1979年对该属进行世界分类修订的基础。 该专著几乎完全基于UCR收集的Aphytis，正因为如此，它是基础和应用科学家的宝贵资源。 UCR收集的Aphytis几乎完全由过去70年来从74个不同国家和地区收集的饲养和载玻片标本组成。 收藏的数量和范围使其不可替代。 它的振兴将稳定现有的收集和刺激额外的分类学研究这一重要属。

Species of Aphytis wasps are among the most important parasitoids of armored scale insects (Homoptera: Diaspididae). Many of the species used in classical and augmentative biological control programs around the world, including type and important voucher material, are represented in collections of the University of California, Riverside (UCR). Because of their minute size, these wasps are generally ignored by collectors and are not accumulated in most insect collections. The UCR collection includes ca. 30,000 specimens of Aphytis mounted on ca. 5,000 slides. The majority of these specimens (28,224) are mounted in a temporary, water soluble medium (Hoyer's) on 4,380 slides. A significant number of these mounts are now in various stages of decay. Many specimens, including numerous type specimens, have already been damaged. It is urgent to protect the collection by transferring a significant portion to Canada balsam, a permanent medium better suited for preserving specimens in taxonomically significant collections of micro-Hymenoptera. Specimens also must be mounted individually and properly labeled. Currently, the majority of the material is mounted with an average of 6.67 specimens per slide. sometimes with more than one species per slide, and labeled very poorly. This project will support the remediation, and curation of the collection of Aphytis at UCR. The UCR collection of Aphytis formed the basis for a world taxonomic revision of the genus by David Rosen and Paul DeBach in 1979. The monograph was based almost entirely on the UCR collection of Aphytis, and because of this, it is an invaluable resource for basic and applied scientists. The UCR collection of Aphytis is almost entirely composed of reared and slide-mounted specimens collected from 74 different countries and territories over the last 70 years. The magnitude and scope of the collection make it irreplaceable. Its revitalization will stabilize the existing collection and stimulate additi onal taxonomic studies of this important genus.