Our visitors – Dung beetles as bioindicators

The Manchester Museum holds a fantastically diverse collection of insects, with over 2.5 million specimens deposited, which represent an important scientific resource for taxonomic, biodiversity and conservation studies. One of such academic studies is now being undertaken by Ms Roisin Stanbrook, a postgraduate student reading for a MSc. in Conservation Biology at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is lucky enough to be travelling to Tanzania this summer (2013) to conduct research for her final project. Her dissertation investigates the use dung beetles (Scarabaeinae) as bioindicators of habitat disturbance in African savannah ecosystems. Habitat fragmentation, hunting, logging and other changes in vegetation usually cause a reduction in species richness, abundance and biomass when compared to undisturbed habitat. Roisin’s study will measure each of these variables to ascertain which type of ecosystem: disturbed pasture, upland secondary forest and pristine primary forest contains the greatest abundance and dung beetle species richness. Many invertebrate groups, especially dung beetles are used as focal taxa in disturbance studies because of their abundance, habitat specialization and response to small-scale habitat heterogeneity. In fact, such is the adeptness of dung beetles, previous studies have demonstrated that composition changes distinctly across habitat types and a complete species turnover have been observed in as little as 100m! In addition, many dung beetle species show a graded response to various kinds of disturbance. Therefore, measuring dung beetle response to human activity can help us assess the functional consequences of human disturbance and aid implementation of appropriate conservation policies to combat habitat and species loss. By studying the extensive dung beetle collection held at the Museum Roisin is able to gain valuable ‘eyes on’ experience before she begins her research and becomes acquainted with her favourite beetles up close!

 Any researcher is most welcome to come over to the Manchester Museum and to work with what we think is the best entomological collection in North-West.

Roisin looking at some dung beeles from the collection of Manchester Museum

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Our visitors – Inspired by a fragile beauty of butterflies

The Manchester Museum’s Entomology Department welcomes a wide array of visitors, from scientists coming to study our extensive insect collections to designers and artists exploring the diversity of shapes, colours or patterns of the many thousands of creepy-crawlies deposited here. Some time ago, the Entomology Department was visited by Ms Michelle Topping based at Mirabel Studios in Manchester. Michelle spent a day looking at and drawing various butterflies from our collection and here is her first result, the painting inspired by her visit.

The painting inspired by the visit to the Entomology department of the Manchester Museum

Here is some information Michelle wrote about her own work:

My paintings explore the two worlds of reality and the virtual world of being online. The butterflies reflect a fragile impermanent beauty which can often be missed when attention has been stopped to the here and now. Most of my work involves portraits of people who have inspired me and others with certain characteristics and talents. It’s the word talent which interest me the most, as I like to explore the hard work and determination which hides behind it.

 Michelle is based at Mirabel Studios in Manchester. They have an open studio on the 9th May. Everyone is welcome. For more information go online.

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Events – An introduction to spiders – Manchester Museum – Sat 2nd February, 2013

Spider ID workshop at the Manchester Museum (Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL) on Saturday 2nd February, provisionally 10am – 4pm.

This workshop is for beginners and attendance at the workshop is free.

This course will introduce the common families of spider that can be found in the UK. Attendees will be shown basic spider anatomy and how to identify spiders to family level and also some easy spider species.

We will use microscopes and the recommended ID guides (provided, although some sharing may be necessary).

We may have some live spiders to examine, but the emphasis with the microscopes will be on how to identify preserved specimens in alcohol.

This is necessary to clearly understand the anatomy and features used in identification (which when familiarised can often be viewed with a hand lens on live spiders in the field).

Space is limited to 10 attendees.

Please contact Philip Baldwin, North West Regional Coordinator, to book your place on this workshop, preferably by email with your contact details; Mobile: 07585 606148, email philip.baldwin900@ntlworld.com; or Dmitri Logunov, the Curator of Arthropods (email: dmitri.v.logunov@manchester.ac.uk).

 Other events run by the British Arachnological Society can be checked upon online at: http://wiki.britishspiders.org.uk/index.php?title=Events,_etc.

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New acquisitions in the Entomology Department

Some people may think that natural history museums deposit only old, historically and/or scientifically important collections. Although this is true, museums also continue to acquire new materials coming to them in various ways. In order just to give visitors an idea about how new collections can be acquired, here is a very brief report on new acquisitions made by the Manchester Museum’s Entomology department during the last five years, from January 2008 to December 2012.

A total of 66 acquisitions of 17,477 specimens have been received, as follows:

1.    Fieldwork (by the curator): 3 acquisitions of 368 specimens.

2.    Enquire-based acquisitions (usually via the identification service we provide): 10 acquisitions of 61 specimens.

3.    Acquisitions related to the public events that we support (Bioblitzes and others): 5 acquisitions of 112 specimens.

4.    Exchange: 1 acquisition of 121 specimens.

5.    Donations: 47 acquisitions of 16,815 specimens.

 Of the aforementioned donations, the largest single one was the spider collection of Dr. Eric Duffey (Norfolk) from Britain, France and Spain acquired in July 2011, which alone consisted of more than 6,000 sample tubes containing 12,545 specimens. The collection has a high scientific value and started being intensively used both for research and for teaching.

Some donations are quite unusual. For instance, a set of three trays apparently produced in Brazil and received in July 2011. Each tray contains a selection of 12 to 21 showy tropical butterflies incorporated inside its bottom, with a nice Morpho-butterfly in the centre (see photo). The trays were first given to us for the identification of butterflies, which we did, and then were simply donated to the Museum.

Unusual Trays acquired in July 2011.

Although the majority of newly acquired insect or spider collections represent an essential resource for taxonomic research, many specimens can also be used (and are used) in various Museum’s educational programmes or temporary/permanent exhibitions. A new permanent Museum’s exhibition called ‘Nature’s Library’, which is due to open in April 2013, will be specifically devoted to our large natural history collections hidden behind-the-scenes and to why these collections are here and how are they used. Do not miss out the opening date (check out the Museum’s site regularly).

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A new exhibition ‘All Other Things Being Equal’ is just opened!

A new photographic exhibition devoted to complex interrelations of humans and neotropical nature has been opened on the 3rd floor of the Manchester Museum. A brief Summary of the exhibition is given below:

The Ecuadorian Amazon is one of the most endangered regions of our planet. Many people want to protect the biodiversity that remains, but the reality on the ground is a complex dilemma. Economic necessity means that trees are valued for their timber more than for their crucial role in the ecosystem. Scientist and photographer Johan Oldekop, who was originally trained as a biologist at the University of Manchester (UK), studied the complex interaction between social and conservation issues in Ecuador during 2006-2011. As a scientist, Johan is interested in the socio-economic factors and land-use in indigenous Kichwa communities and their effect on the biodiversity of Ecuadorian Amazon. This exhibition presents his findings through his own stunning photographs combined with specimens from the Manchester Museum’s entomology and botany collections.

The exhibition will be opened until the beginning of June, 2013. Everyone is welcome!

Here are a few shots taken just after the opening of this exhibition.

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Events – Northern Coleopterists’ Meeting 2012

We are glad to announce that the 4th Northern Coleopterists’ Meeting 2012 will take place on this Saturday (September 22nd) at the Manchester Museum (in the Kanaris Lecture Theatre). Anyone interested in beetles is welcome. Attendees are welcome to bring any exhibits, literature or other entomological items to display at the meeting.

Here is the Agenda:

10.00-10.15 ‘Welcome’ by Tom Hubball & Dmitri Logunov

 10.15-10.45 ‘Subterranean Beetles: The British Fauna in Context of the World’ by Graham Proudlove

 10.45-11.00 Tea/Coffee

 11.00-11.45 ‘Beetle Diversity in Dunes and Pine Plantations at Newborough by Anglesey’ by Dick Loxton

 11.45-12.30 ‘The Rediscovery and Current Status of Cryptocephalus coryli at Sherwood Forest NNR’  by Trevor Pendleton

 12.30-13.15 ‘Beetles and Buglife: Conservation Work in the UK’ by Sarah Henshall

 13.15-14.15 Lunch.

 14.15-16.30 Afternoon discussion and identification session in Entomology Dept.

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Bug Art Big Saturday

One of the important aspects of the Manchester Museum’s work is to engage with the visitors, particularly children, in order to stimulate interest in the world around them. As part of this campaign to stimulate interest in the collections the Manchester Museum runs regular Big Saturday events across the year, which encourage visitors (of all ages) to directly interact with museum collections. Members of the museum staff are also available at these events to explain and answer questions about the objects presented on handling tables.

In 2011-12 academic year, the Manchester Museum’s Entomology Department was involved in a collaborative project with Arts, Design & Media students from the Stockport College (tutor – Ian Murray). Working with Dmitri Logunov, the Museum’s Curator of Entomology, and Anna Bunney, the Museums Curator of Public Programmes, the students were given the challenge to create artworks in response to different groups of creepy-crawlers (e.g., flies, cockroaches, butterflies, dragonflies, cicada, sacred scarab, spiders, scorpions, etc.), exploring not only the physical appearance of the creatures but also their historical and symbolic meaning.

In this collaborative project, students were asked not only to develop various artworks (artist books exploring bugs, 3D models or toys of various bugs, badgers with their images, and even bug animation), but also to contribute to a Museum’s Big Saturday event through their art and design skills. Such Big Saturday, called Bug Art, took place in the Museum in partnership with the Stockport College on 28/01/2012. During that day the visitors could get a closer look at some of the insects from the Museum’s collection, watch a family friendly Bugs and Insects film or watch maggots creating abstract art. Activities also included making origami Cicadas, bug headbands, bug badges, printing and stop motion animation.

Here is the short film produced by the students involved in Bug Art – Big Saturday who presented their own view on that great event. Just enjoy it!

Bug Art Big Saturday at the Manchester Museum

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Star objects of our collection – Moth Lacewings

Below, I am presenting a brief report on a very interesting finding in the Entomology collection, written by Gina Allnatt, one of our former curatoria trainees.

I’ve often read about museum curators finding hidden gems tucked away in parts of collections that no one has found before. My colleague Lindsey Loughtman, curatorial assistant of Botany at the Manchester Museum herbarium once found a previously undocumented Darwin specimen in the moss collection. Sometimes these things are found during day to day curatorial activities, at other times they appear during collections reviews.

 In my case it was a combination of the two. As part of my curatorial traineeship, I undertook a small collections review of the Auchenorrhyncha collection in the Manchester Museum’s Entomology department. This was partly because I was writing an article on the collection, and needed to know as much as possible about it, and partly because the collection was in need of recuration.

At the end of my report, there were a few undetermined specimens which I discovered were mostly from the Hemipteran family Eurybrachidae. A few Fulgoridae were also present and subsequently identified using Thierry Poiron’s fabulous guides.

 When I got to an insect that superficially appeared to be another battered looking Fulgorid (at least from a casual glance at the wing venation), I took a closer look and noticed its body was not that of a Hemipteran insect at all! In fact, it looked strangely moth-like. It clearly wasn’t a moth either, as there were no scales on the wings. Curatorial Assistant Phil Rispin and I were perplexed, so we showed it to the Senior Curator of Arthropods, Dmitri Logunov.

 Dmitri identified it as belonging to the Order Neuroptera. However, we still were not 100% sure what family the insect belonged to. After pulling out numerous drawers of specimens in the Neuroptera collection, we finally came across an insect that looked similar to the one found in the Hemiptera collection.

 

Fig. 1. The holotype of Rapisma tamilanum from Indian, the Manchester Museum

 

 ”This is a really rare insect!” Dmitri exclaimed. We only had one in our collection and it was a holotype (i.e., a designated specimen used to formally describe a species for the first time; Fig. 1). Since we now had a lead on which family the insect might belong to, I began researching what I could find on the Rapismatidae.

It turns out they belong to the group of lacewings called “Moth Lacewings”, which are among the most primitive of insects (Fig. 2). Moth lacewings are extremely rare. According to researcher P.C. Barnard, who wrote a paper on the Rapismatidae, he was only able to trace 21 specimens during his research, including the Manchester Museum’s Holotype. The Rapismatidae are found only in the highlands of Indomalaya Ecoregion. Since it is now virtually imposible to collect insects in India, even for scientific research, this makes these specimens especially valuable parts of the entomology collection!

 

Fig. 2. An unknown species of Moth Lacewing, the Manchester Museum

 

 

The newly discovered specimen in the collection was collected by Hebert Stevens, an ornithologist, entomologist and tea planter who collected most of the Fulgoridae and Cicada specimens in the Hemiptera collection during the turn of the last century. His specimens are a rare record of organisms from a region where it is now forbidden to study and collect entomological specimens.

 

 It is possible that the insect is a new species, but we are bringing in a specialist so that we can find out for sure. Even it isn’t, I feel lucky and privileged to have found such a rare specimen tucked away in the Hemiptera drawer.

 

 References:  Barnard, P.C. The Rapismatidae (Neuroptera) montane lacewings of the Oriental region Systematic Entomology (1981), 6 ,  121-136

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Importance of Natural History Collections

Here is a brief report and interesting video from one of our volunteers.

Hi I’m Molly Czachur, a Zoology student at the University of Manchester, and a volunteer in the Entomology department. I work on the recuration and updading of the nomenclature of the Crustacean collection here at the museum, where we have over 500 specimens of crabs, lobsters and other Crustacea. I made this video “The Importance of Museums to Zoologists” for my fellow Zoology students, in an attempt to show them how cool the museum really is, and how there is so much knowledge held within the walls of the museum that I was not aware of before becoming a volunteer. In the video you can see the spirit collections, the dry collections and I have pointed out a few of my favourite crabs: The Hairy Stone Crab, The Long-Eyed Swimming Crab and the Long-Legged Spider Crab. Big thanks for help with the commentary by my friend Lauren, who was the presenter in the documentary. I hope you enjoy, and see the importance of the work which goes on in the museum, both for a scientists education, and for the museum in its preservation of specimens for people in years to come.

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Climate change question time – The Manchester Museum

23 February 2012

6-8pm. Your chance to pose questions to experts about climate change & sustainability in a Manchester & global context. With experts from the University of Manchester and other leading research centres and taking place in the Museum’s Living Worlds gallery. You can send your questions in advance to museum@manchester.ac.uk or bring them along on the night.

 The panel includes Kevin Anderson, professor of energy and climate change at the University of Manchester and deputy director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research; Jason Kirby, physical geographer from Liverpool John Moores University; Jonathan Gregory, climate scientist from Reading University; Celine Gemond-Duret, of the Centre for Sustainable Development at the University of Central Lancashire and marine physicist Professor John Huthnance.

Price: Book on 0161 275 2648, free

 Climate Change Question Time is part of Museum Meet, the Manchester Museum’s new year long adult programme.  You can find out more by visiting the Museum Meets blog museummeets.wordpress.com or web page www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/whatson/adults/

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