This is the latest blogpost in the series summarising publications based on specimens from Manchester Museum’s (MM) Entomology Collection over the last academic year. Three papers from 2019 and 2020, not recorded in previous blogposts, are also included. A total of 14 papers were published in the period between 1 August 2022 to 31 July 2023 including references to specimens from our collection. Topics include phylogenetic and taxonomic studies, ecological behaviour, distribution and impact of introduced species and an obituary for the collector Stan Dobson whose spider collection is housed at the museum. There are also several descriptions of new species in three arthropod groups, and a new genus described in spiders (Araneae). The publications were authored by more than 35 researchers, with first authors from nine countries: Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, England, Finland, Germany, India, Russia and Spain. The full list of publications can be found below.
The majority of the papers were devoted to descriptions of new species: spiders from Iran, British Overseas Territories, South-East Asia and Turkey; fairyflies/fairy wasps from India; and beetles from Colombia (Figure 1a). Over half of the papers focused on spiders (Araneae), with the remaining half focusing on four other arthropod groups (Figure 1b).
Accounts of the Museum’s Collections
- Marcus Bevilaqua and Claudio da Fonseca, undertook a review of the type specimens of the genus Passsalus housed at Manchester Museum. The review includes redescriptions, new illustrations, unrecorded characteristics and morphometrics, all of which will support future taxonomic and phylogenetic studies (Bevilaqua & Fonseca 2020). The species were originally described by Walter Douglas Hincks, British Entomologists and Keeper of Entomology at the Manchester Museum from 1947 to his death in 1961. The type specimens have been previously published in The Passalidae collection (Coleoptera) of the Manchester Museum, UK, with a complete type catalogue (Miles 2017).
- Stan Dobson was a British arachnologist from Manchester, who contributed to spider records across Northern England and was an Honorary Member of the British Arachnological Society (BAS). Dobson’s spider collection, field notebooks and illustrations are housed in the Entomology Department at MM. Most of the collection has been labelled and ordered, but there is still some unsorted material and unidentified specimens from different localities. We are now in the process of re-curating and accessioning this collection (Logunov 2023a).
- The Entomology Collection’s new digital microscope (Olympus SZX16 stereo microscope, DP27 Digital Colour Camera and Helicon Focus software) was used to take high resolution, detailed photographs of specimens to describe new species of Iranian jumping spiders. These descriptions are within a review of the group (Logunov 2023b).
Highlights from other papers and authors
- Laurence Cook and John Muggleton analysed the frequencies of the melanic forms of the Asian Box-tree moth Cydalima perpsectalis in Europe and Britain, a species which has recently spread and is becoming well established in the region. Using data collected from Hampshire and Wiltshire during 2020-2022, the different morph frequencies were recorded. Possible reasons for such an increase in range are examined in the paper, with human transport of infected plants contributing to this expansion (Cook & Muggleton 2023).
- Specimens from the collection were used to build the phylogenetic relationships of the karschiellid earwigs. DNA was extracted from identified museum specimens from around the world, amplified and compared with molecular evolutionary models (Kocárek et al. 2023).
- Specimens of Passalus (Pertinax) were used for a taxonomic review and aided in the description of a new beetle species in Colombia (Jiménez‑Ferbans et al. 2022).
News from the Entomology Department
After being the Curator of the Arthropod Collection at the Manchester Museum for more than 20 years, Dr. Dmitri Logunov announced his retirement. Dmitri will continue supporting the Entomology Department as Research Associate and Honorary Curator. His knowledge and experience will always be appreciated and valued here at the collection. Dmitri is currently working towards writing a complete account of the spider collection housed at MM. He is also providing better storage, documenting, accessioning and rehousing several spider collections with support from volunteers. Additionally, he authored four publications focussing on descriptions of new spider species – Araneae (Logunov 2023a; Logunov 2023b; Logunov & Ozernoy 2022; Sherwood, Henrard, Logunov & Fowler 2023).
All staff and volunteers at the Museum and the Entomology Department wish him all the very best for the future.
Sadly, Claire Miles, former volunteer, curatorial trainee and Honorary Curator, passed away in August 2023. Claire re-curated the collection of type specimens of earwigs (Dermaptera) and Passalidae beetles (Coleoptera). She published several papers while working at MM Entomology Department. A list of her papers can be found here. Claire will be greatly missed at the Museum and at the Entomology Department.
Our deepest condolences to her family and friends.
A complete list of the publications
(Note there are two papers from 2019 and 2020 previously not recorded)
- Anwar P.T., F. R. Khan, Z. Ahmad, S. U. Usman, H. A. Ghramh & S. B. Zeya. 2022. An overview of the genus Alaptus Westwood in India (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae). The European Zoological Journal 89:1, 1159-1173. https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2022.2120642
- Bevilaqua M. & C.R.V. da Fonseca. 2020. Redescription of the species of Passalus Fabricius, 1792 (Coleoptera: Passalidae) described by Walter Douglas Hincks (1906–1961) deposited in the Museum of the University of Manchester. Journal of Natural History Vol. 54, Nos. 5-6: 321-350. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2020.1759721
- Cook L.M. & J. Muggleton. 2023. Encounters with the colour forms of the Box-Tree Moth Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859) (Lep.: Crambidae). Entomologist’s Rec. J. Var. 135: 83-87.
- Dimitrov D. 2022.A review of the genus Maimuna Lehtinen, 1967 (Araneae, Agelenidae) in Turkey, with a description of a new species. Zootaxa 5124 (3): 383-390. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5124.3.7
- Heleodoro R.A., J.R. Alves-Oliveira & J.A. Rafael. 2019. Mecomera Audinet-Serville, 1839 (Dermaptera: Spongiphoridae): proposal of new diagnosis, descriptions and illustrations of all three-known species. Zootaxa 4577 (1): 117-130. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4577.1.7
- Jäger P. 2022. Bowie gen. nov., a diverse lineage of ground-dwelling spiders occurring from the Himalayas to Papua New Guinea and northern Australia (Araneae: Ctenidae: Cteninae). Zootaxa 5170 (1): 001-200. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5170.1.1
- Jiménez‑Ferbans L., P. Reyes‑Castillo & M. Bevilaqua. 2022. The Brachypterous Species of Passalus (Pertinax) (Coleoptera: Passalidae), with the Description of a New Species from Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Neotropical Entomology 51: 722-741. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-022-00988-1
- Kocárek P., I. Horká , V. Bonczek & M. Kirstová. 2023. Phylogenetic placement of bizarre karschiellid earwigs. Insect Science 0: 1-4. DOI 10.1111/1744-7917.13244
- Logunov D.V. 2023a. Obituary: Stanley Dobson (1931-2023). Newsletter of the British Arachnological Society No. 157, Summer 2023: 17-22. https://entomologymanchester.wordpress.com/publications/
- Logunov D.V. 2023b. On the jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from Iran collected by Antoine Senglet (1927–2015). Arachnology 19 (4): 732-768. DOI 10.13156/arac.2023.19.4.732
- Logunov D.V. & A.V. Ozernoy. 2022. Notes on Yllenus uiguricus Logunov & Marusik, 2003 (Araneae, Salticidae): colour morphs, digging behaviour, and revised distribution. Arachnology 19 (3): 635-644
- Meshcheryakova E.N., N.A. Bulakhova, Z.A. Zhigulskaya, S.V. Shekhovtsov & D.I. Berman. 2023. Wintering and cold hardiness of the Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae (Linnaeus, 1758) Nymphalidae, Lepidoptera) in the West and East of the Northern Palearctic. Diversity 15, 72. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15010072
- Plakkhina E.V. & S.L. Esyunin. 2022. New data on introduced spider species (Arachnida: Aranei) from the Urals. Arthropoda Selecta 31(3): 363-371. doi: 10.15298/arthsel.31.3.13
- Sherwood D., A. Henrard, D.V. Logunov & L. Fowler. 2023. Saint Helenian wolf spiders, with description of two new genera and three new species (Araneae: Lycosidae). Arachnology 19 (5), 816–851. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371969094
- Zamani A., Y.M. Marusik & T. Szűts. 2023. A survey of the spider genus Dysdera Latreille, 1804 (Araneae, Dysderidae) in Iran, with fourteen new species and notes on two fossil genera. ZooKeys 1146: 43-86. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1146.97517
- Zamani A., Y.M. Marusik & T. Szűts. 2023. A survey of Dysderella Dunin, 1992 (Araneae, Dysderidae), with a new species from Iran. Zoosyst. Evol. 99 (2): 337-344. DOI 10.3897/zse.99.104613
Many thanks to Thomas Devenish Arzuza for summarising the papers and his support with images.
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