UD Insect Research Collection |
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An insect collection has been at the University of Delaware for as longas entomology has been part of the curriculum. A teaching collection was kept in association with the first entomology class (“Insects Injurious to Vegetation”), taught at the University of Delaware (then Delaware College by Dr. Frederick D. Chester, Professor of Geology and Agriculture, beginning in 1886 (Bray, unpublished). When the Delaware Agricultural Experiment Station was initiated in 1888, provision was made for an insect collection. The first head of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Delaware, M.H. Deckwith (1888-1896), was provided with”…a cabinet case for the preservation of insects” (Delaware College Agricultural Experiment Station, 1888:13) in the single room office and laboratory set aside for Horticulture and Entomology. In 1900, the connection of Entomology with Horticulture was severed by the appointment of the station’s first entomologist, E. Dwight Sanderson. The station insect collection was then divided into two separate collections: one arranged according to scientific classification, and the other arranged according to foods utilized and including only the most economically important insect species. This second collection included all stages of the insect and examples of injuries, and was used in extension (Sterns, 1957). The growth of the University of Delaware collection is not well documented, but the growth of the economic collection appears to have been an early priority, particularly by the Experiment Station entomologists, E. Dwight Sanderson (1900-1902) and Clinton O. Houghton (1903-1908). Houghton actively solicited donations and identification of specimens, and annually reported on the progress of the collections in the Experiment Station Annual Reports while he was with the Experiment Station. Between the transfer of Houghton from the Experiment Station to the college staff, and the establishment of the Department of Entomology in 1925 (with Herbert L. Dozier as head; 1925-1929), virtually no entomological work was done in Delaware (Stearns, 1957; Dozier, 1927). An early priority of Dozier was an insect survey of Delaware, including the “collections, identifications, and full data on the economic importance and distribution…” of Delaware insects (Dozier, 1927:25). L.A. Stearns (1929-1957), who commented “a prior knowledge of the occurrence, distribution, ecology and relative abundance of both common and obscure species, as a result of systematic collecting, is of inestimable value…” continued this work (Stearns and Williams, 1930:27). In 1957, Stearns listed the contents of the insect collection as being 90,000 pinned specimens (72,000 indentified), 40,000 liquid specimens (26,000 identified) and 5,000 slide specimens (all identified). Of particular interest the museum includes the collection of Frank Morton Jones, 2,000 specimens including 850 species of Lepidoptera (specimens mostly from northeastern U.S.; Jones was an “internationally known natural” [Stearns 1957:33], who received a honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of Delaware in 1931.) Omitted from Stearns’s description of the collection is a modest dry collection of scale insect that dates mostly from the early 1900’s, evidently resulting from activity following an outbreak of the San Jose Scale in Delaware in the late 1890’s (Beckwith, 1895). During the time of time of the departure of Stearns, there have been a number of people who have contributed to or conducted research with the collection. These include: W.A. Connell (e.g. Connell 1956; 1984), D. MacCreary (e.g. MecCreary, 1940; 1963), D.F. Bray, H.E. Milliron, P.P. Burbutis, R.W. Lake (e.g. Lake, 1980; 1984), L.P. Kelsey (e.g. Kelsey, 1969) and E.P. Catts (e.g. Catts, 1969; Bray, unpublished). Areas of strong representation of the insect collection are the lower Diptera (especially biting flies) and aquatic insects from all Orders. The Diptera collection includes cougher and reference material from Delaware mosquito research beginning in the early 1930’s, and apparently includes all recorded species of mosquitoes from the state (but not an unrecorded species; R.L. Lake, pers. comm.). The mosquito collection also includes a significant slide and alcohol collection of larvae, including some foreign material (e.g. a representative collection from New Caledonia assembled by D.F. Bray). The collection of Simuliidae and Ceratopogonidae is also quite strong for both adults and larvae. The aquatic insects collection includes all recorded Delaware species of Plecoptera (Lake, 1980) and Trichoptera (Lake, 1984) and a strong representation of all other Delaware aquatic insects. The University of Delaware’s Collection is Certainly the definitive collection of aquatic insects for the state. |
Contact Information: Dr. Charles Bartlett |
