Chrysididae

Rosa, Paolo, Bernasconi, Marco Valerio & Wyniger, Denise, 2015, The Linsenmaier Chrysididae collection housed in the Natur-Museum Luzern (Switzerland) and the main results of the related GBIF Hymenoptera Project (Insecta), Zootaxa 3986 (5), pp. 501-548 : 506-507

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.