Zoology - Invertebrates

Results

15'170 specimens reconditionned, revised, databased, scanned or photographed, and reorganised.

Summary

Working at the Natural History Museum of St.Gallen (NMSG) from 1954 onwards, Hans Hugentobler restored the beetle collections. During that time, he detected 500 beetle species that have not previously been described for Eastern Switzerland and 60 species that were new to Switzerland. He documented his finds in the book «Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Käfer der Nordostschweiz». Today, this landmark work is an important part of every Swiss coleopterists’ library. H. Hugentobler passed away in 1967 and the collection subsequently was split into two parts. One part (beetles that were collected in the canton of Thurgau) were transferred to the Natural History Museum of Thurgau, the other half remained at the Natural History Museum St.Gallen. Since then, the NMSG-part of Hugentobler’s collection stayed largely untouched, besides a few groups of beetles that were revised by experts. Currently, the Entomologischer Verein Alpstein works on the collection, transferring it to new drawers. However, the taxonomy of the beetles is outdated, and the collection is not yet inventoried and digitized. Thanks to this SwissCollNet project, Hugentobler’s collection can now be digitized and properly restored. We also plan to digitize the book “Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Käfer der Nordostschweiz», making it accessible online.

Results

All processed specimens:

Digitised "type" specimens^*:

• 48 specimens databsed

^{* reference specimen for naming and describing a species}

Summary

Spiders are the most important terrestrial invertebrate predators with an enormous ecological importance. They are good bio-indicators as they reflect accurately even minute climatic/microclimatic alterations in their habitats. Swiss Natural History Museums house a number of valuable spider collections, one of them is the collection of Konrad Thaler (1940 - 2005), the most important spider collection in the Natural History Museum Bern (NMBE). It contains ca. 125'000 specimens, mainly from the Alps and to a smaller part from outer-alpine Europe. These spiders were collected between the early 1960ies and 2005. Most of the material is trustworthily identified by Thaler himself. The data of around 45'000 specimens are already in the NMBE database, the remaining data should be added in the frame of this project and be made publicly available for research purposes and for the general public. This project complements two other running projects funded by SwissCollNet and will result in an almost complete dataset on alpine spiders in Swiss natural history museums, offering unique research possibilities, that range from taxonomic and phylogenetic studies, studies on effects of climate warming on the sensitive and unique fauna of the Alps to evidence-based conservation efforts concerning alpine invertebrates.

Results

6'893 insect drawers photographed.

Summary

The Natural History Museum of Basel and the Museum.BL together archive more than 13’000 insect drawers with determined and sorted material. Databasing all of them is time-consuming, costly and not reasonable for each individual, due to differences in quality and scientific value. While curators have an overview on the state of their collections, external researchers and the public have not.

Taking photos of drawers and connecting them with general data about their content will facilitate decision making to start digitisation on individual level, will help external researchers to find objects they are looking for and will give the public and collection funders the possibility to scroll through our insect collections and get an impression about their value and their dimensions.

Results

Summary

The entomological collection of the Naturmuseum Winterthur goes back to the 19th century. The very first collection housed at the museum was started in 1855 by Henri Ernst (1840-1899). The first donation came to the museum in 1870 from Jakob Heinrich Troll (1812-1870). Further collections were donated in the beginning of the 20th century. The former director of the Naturmuseum Winterthur, Gottlieb Geilinger (1881-1955), assigned the curation of the entomological collection to Hedwig Huber (1891-1966), a gynaecologist and local beetle collector. From 1953 on, Hedwig Huber re-organised and enhanced the entomological collection with help of Frieda Wening and Berta Benz. The three women wrote a systematic catalogue of the entomological collection and published the most important collections (Wening, 1964/66). After the death of Hedwig Huber, the entomological collections no longer had their own curator. The digitization in the entomological collection of the Naturmuseum Winterthur has therefore not yet started. We would like to collect this important biodiversity data on metadata (documentation of single subcollections) and specimen level (digitization of individual objects) as part of the present SwissCollNet project.

Results

All processed specimens:

Digitised "type" specimens^*:

• 40 types databased

^{* reference specimen for naming and describing a species}

Summary

The project Curculionoidea of the Natural History Museum Bern (NMBE) aims to digitize the remaining about 9000 specimens of the superfamily Curculionoidea or Weevils (Coleoptera) of the collection. Weevils comprise a superdiverse group of beetles (>62.000 species in the world, 1100 expected in Switzerland). Weevils are mainly herbivorous, develop and feed on various plant organs, and act as vectors for plant diseases. Thus, Weevils are of profound ecological and economical relevance. The collections of the NMBE harbour about 55.000 specimens of weevils, which represent the third largest collection of Weevils in Switzerland. The remaining Curculionoidea comprise ¼ of Entiminae, then the subfamilies Hyperinae, Lixinae, Mesoptilinae, Molytinae, Orobitinae, as well as the less numerous families Dryophthoridae, Erirhinidae, Nanophyidae, Nemonychidae, Raymondionymidae, and Rhynchitidae.

Outreach

Germann C, Wartmann S (2024) Das Steppenelement Adosomus roridus (Pallas, 1781) in der Schweiz und erste Dokumentation der Entwicklung in Artemisia absinthium L. (Coleoptera, Curculionidae). Alpine Entomology 8: 147-151. https://doi.org/10.3897/alpento.8.137395

Results

All processed specimens:

Digitised "type" specimens^*:

• 1'221 databased
• 878 scanned or photographed

^{* reference specimen for naming and describing a species}

Summary

Auguste Forel (1848-1931) was a Swiss entomologist, neuroanatomist and psychiatrist. He was one of the most important myrmecologists of the late 19th and early 20th century. He described more than 6000 taxa (genera, species and subspecies) of ants. He also built up one of the largest collections of ants in the world. Comprising more than 65,000 pins, often with several specimens per pin, and more than 10,000 types (the voucher specimens used to describe the taxa), this collection has been deposited mainly at the Muséum d’histoire naturelle in Geneva and the Musée cantonal de zoologie in Lausanne. The Naturmuseum in Solothurn also inherited some specimens.

The main work will consist in digitising and photographing a large part of the type specimens, at least one for each taxon represented by a type. The data on locality and date of collection, collector, determination, number of specimens and castes will be collected and then uploaded into the respective databases of the museums. For the Geneva collection, which is the most important in terms of number of species and specimens, a representative of each species will also be digitised. The collections in Lausanne and Solothurn will be fully digitised.

In Geneva and Lausanne, part of the collection has remained in the original boxes used by Forel, which no longer meet current conservation standards. This material will be reconditioned in new entomological drawers.

Outreach

Bernard Landry (2024) "La célèbre collection de fourmis A. Forel se dévoile encore plus", blog post published on the Muséumlab (Genève) website on February 14, 2024.

Results

Summary

The Epstein Collection was deposited at the Museo cantonale di storia naturale (MCSN) at the end of the 1980s. It comprises 60’000 specimens of diurnal butterflies collected by Hans Epstein and his family for over 20 years, and is estimated to inlcude 70% of the species found in the Palearctic and Nearctic regions. One third of these specimens had already been mounted before donation and could thus be reordered, revised and digitised during the past decades. However, as time during expeditions is always limited and the work required to mount insects is enourmous, many specimens were stored in glassine envelopes: around 40’000 specimens are today still in envelopes of glassine paper or newspaper sheets and are stored in various different boxes (plastic, aluminium and cigar boxes). Although the MCSN has received all the relevant documentation related to the Epstein Collection (epistolary, maps and field diaries), the detailed content of the boxes is still unknown and the difficult accessibility makes a revision and digitization challenging. The main scope of processing the papered butterflies of the Epstein Collection is to make specimen data digitally available in order to know the detailed content of the envelopes as well as to improve access of the data to experts in Switzerland and internationally for further research. Digitisation will be accompanied by a physical reorganisation of the material facilitating the finding of material and its long-term preservation.

Results

Summary

Spiders, which unfortunately often do not enjoy a good reputation in the population, are in fact fascinating and very diverse organisms. For this reason, they are often used in bio-indication studies, including in Ticino. For regional museums, as the MCSN, it is important to have collections of the species present in the territory they represent, both as an intrinsic value for the institution itself and as reference material for researchers. In the last 35 years, samples from researches carried out in Ticino, in different environmental types and representative areas of the Canton, have been delivered in a heterogeneous way to the MCSN.

This project aims at revising, reorganising, conditioning and digitising the estimated 9’000 spider specimens from Ticino and stored at the MCSN. The reorganized collection will allow an easier management of samples in the long term, including any new material that will be deposited at MCSN in the future. Very important will be the standardisation of the structure of the database and the systematics that will make these data easily integrated into the SVNHC.

Finally, this project will promote both training and collaboration between two museums, Lugano and Basel, and the young biologist hired for this job will have the opportunity to become familiar with spider identification and systematics, as well as with museum conservation techniques.

Results

All processed specimens:

Digitised "type" specimens^*:

• 802 databased and scanned or photographed

^{* reference specimen for naming and describing a species}

Summary

Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) and Stoneflies (Plecoptera) are two small orders of aquatic insects of prime importance for the freshwater ecosystems; they are widely used as bioindicators. Mayflies and Stoneflies collections housed in the Swiss institutions are of great importance at national and international levels, including type material of around 700 species (10% of the known species in the world).

We propose a large-scale digitisation of the 100 000 occurrences of Mayflies and Stoneflies housed in the Swiss institutions. We will implement new pipelines to accelerate the rate of occurrences digitisation, including automatic procedures for multiple pictures acquisition and OCR (optical character recognition) to extract data from recombined pictures of labels. High quality pictures of specimens will be taken using last generation equipment. Identifications will be confirmed by experts and all the type material will be clearly labelled and identified by double-checking with the literature. The collections will be curated to insure the highest standards for long term preservation. All the extracted data and pictures will be transferred to institution databases and then to SVNHC (Swiss Virtual Natural History Collection).

This project will also strengthen the synergy between institutions by sharing skills, knowledge and collections. It will create high accessibility and valorisation of the collections and increase their worldwide recognition.

Results

Digitised "type" specimens^*:

• 1'404 revised
• 181 new synonyms databased
• 1'050 scanned or photographed

^{* reference specimen for naming and describing a species.}

Summary

The Parasitic Helminths Collection at the Natural History Museum of Geneva (MHNG) is the richest in Switzerland, and for some major taxa one of the most unique in Europe. The backbone of the collection stems from the collections of several influential Swiss parasitologists during the 19th and 20th century, whose dedication and discoveries are still little appreciated by the general public. This proposal aims at digitizing the type specimens of species described by Otto Furhmann (1871-1945), Jean-George Baer (1902-1975), George Dubois (1902-1993), or Franco Bona (1922-2014), and former scientists of the MHNG, Claude Vaucher, Alain de Chambrier and Jean Mariaux, to facilitate curatorial practice and promote information exchange and availability of fragile and precious specimens to scientists. The collection of parasitic Platyhelminthes (flatworms) comprises 1269 records of whole-mounted type specimens belonging to 609 species described by the above researchers from all over the world. This effort will foster taxonomic research in a group still in constant expansion and will set the foundations for microscopy digitization of other taxa with whole-mounted specimens preserved on microscope slides. The new images and high-standards of curation of this collection will certainly be an asset for developing a future online portal of Swiss Virtual Natural History Collections.

Results

All processed specimens:

• 14'084 revised and databased.

Digitised "type" specimens^*:

• 49 batches revised and databased

^{* reference specimen for naming and describing a species}

Summary

This project aims to digitize part of the Delessert collection, largest European malacological private collection of the 19th century and largest malacological collection in a Swiss institution. Backbone of the MHNG Mollusca collection, it hold many unmarked types. In practice, we want to database 12'500 of the estimated 60'000 remaining lots, to update the taxonomy, to identify types specimens among the digitized specimens and to picture them in a standardized way.

Results

All processed specimens:

Digitised "type" specimens*:

• 1 reconditioned, databased, and scanned or photographed

* reference specimen for naming and describing a species.

Summary

The Natural History Museum of Fribourg’s collections are a treasure trove of data on the past of our environment. Among them are the collections of Hans Pochon (1900-1977) and Canon Nestor Cerutti (1886-1940), consisting of more than 30,000 scarabs, weevils, ladybirds, and other insects of the Coleoptera order. All the specimens collected and pinned by these two entomologists during the 20th century are of great scientific value as they attest to the state of the fauna of that period, especially for the cantons of Fribourg and Valais. However, these collections have remained untouched for almost 100 years and are in serious need of reconditioning. This project will therefore aim to reorganise the insects according to a modern classification of life, store them in new airtight frames so that they are protected from collection pests, and digitise all the information on the old labels so that it can be made accessible to the global research community. The project also includes visiting other Swiss museums to inventory their Pochon and Cerutti beetles and inviting specialists to verify the identification of the new beetle collection. This big task will not only bring to light a huge amount of data on the Swiss insect fauna but will also ensure its accessibility to the scientific community in the near future.

Outreach

Publications

• GERMANN, Christoph, GIRIENS, Sophie. Erstmeldung des südwestalpinen Polydrusus (Chlorodrusus) abeillei abeillei Desbrochers, 1869 für die Schweiz (Coleoptera, Curculionidae). Entomo Helvetica, 2024, vol. 17 p. 17-22.

Media coverage

• Couleurs locales - Coléoptères centenaires sur le net. Réalisé par Yves Matthey. RTS. 23 août 2022.
• SANCHEZ, Stéphane. Le Musée d'histoire naturelle de Fribourg va numériser 38'000 coléoptères et 18'000 planches d'herbier. La Liberté, 19 mai 2022.

Results

All processed specimens:

• 22'588 revised and databased.

Digitised "type" specimens^*:

• 366 revised and databased.

^{* reference specimen for naming and describing a species.}

Summary

The project Pteromalidae in Swiss Collections aims to establish a comprehensive database of the dry mounted specimens in as many Swiss institutions as possible. The Pteromalidae collections are housed in 7 major institutions: Natural History Museums of Aargau, Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne and Solothurn, as well as in the Entomological Collection at the ETH in Zurich. The collections comprise about 22000 specimens. The Pteromalidae are a major group of parasitic wasps, important in basic and applied research. Having a complete specimen database of the Pteromalidae in Swiss Collections on the Swiss Virtual Natural History Collection (SVNHC) platform will bring the family automatically to forefront of research considerations. As most specimens were collected in the context of biological control projects, the result will not only be a specimen database, but also a database on host-parasitoid relationships. Finally, the specimens will not only be databased, but also be largely re-identified. Hence, it is to be hoped, that this project will stimulate the interest of future generations of specialists in this ecologically and economically most important group.

Résultats

Résumé

La collection de mollusques et coraux du Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Neuchâtel trouve son origine il y a plus de 200 ans et contient de nombreux spécimens à haute valeur scientifique et historique. Cette collection a poursuivi son accroissement au fil des siècles jusqu’à atteindre, à ce jour, plus de 35'000 lots. Alors que la version papier de l’inventaire a été mis à jour jusqu’au début du 20ème siècle, très peu de spécimens ont été saisis dans une base de données. De plus, coquilles et coraux nécessitent un reconditionnement adéquat avec du matériel non acide pour les préserver de dégradations futures et de la poussière. Les deux ans nécessaires pour mener à bien ce projet représentent une opportunité unique tant pour sécuriser au long terme ces spécimen, pour les digitaliser dans la base de données que pour amorcer leur révision. Dans ce sens, le matériel suisse sera entièrement révisé ou déterminé par des spécialistes, puis la priorité sera mise sur les ensembles les plus représentatifs de la collection. En outre, ce projet inclus des développements de base de données pour d’une part améliorer la visibilité de la collection auprès d’une audience internationale et d’autre part pour traiter et associer un grand volume d’images aux spécimens inventoriés.

Outreach

• Bueno C. & Saucy G., « Bilan intermédiaire d'un projet d'inventaire et de révision d'une collection de mollusques ».Presentation at the Malakologisches Treffen / Rencontre Malacologique, NMBE, on March 9, 2024.
• Mollusk specimens collected by Johann Jakob von Tschudi in Peru (1838-1842) displayed in the temporary exhibition “Naming Natures” (2024) at the Natural History Museum of Neuchâtel

Results

All processed specimens:

Digitised "type" specimens^*:

• 850 revised and reorganised
• 174 databased and scanned or photographed

^{* reference specimen for naming and describing a species.}

Summary

The Natural History Museum Basel (NMB) has obtained a private collection of 15'922 Cholevinae (Coleoptera; Leiodidae). This collection contains 781 species (698 from the Palaearctic), including 15 holotypes and 611 paratypes of 99 species. This collection increases the number of species of Cholevinae at the NMB by over 40%. They are represented worldwide with a bit more than 2000 species. The main distribution area is in the western Palaearctic, and many species occur as endemics in a highly restricted range. The high degree of endemism is due to their often restricted mobility and their particular way of life in vertebrate nests, in underground mammal burrows, or caves. Due to their specific way of life, they can be exciting and essential indicator species for questions in biodiversity, environmental, or habitat protection.

The Chlevinae of the obtained private collection will be digitally recorded in this project. In addition, the type material (holo- and paratypes) will be photographed with high-resolution photo stacking imaging and also included in the database. The digitization will make data, including photos of the type material, of about half of all known Cholevinae species worldwide accessible to researchers and interested individuals.

Results

All processed specimens:

Digitised "type" specimens*:

• 29 revised and databased

* reference specimen for naming and describing a species.

Summary

Termites are a fascinating group of social insects that live in large states and have a pronounced caste system. Only the queen and king of a state produce offspring, while the remaining individuals are employed either as workers or soldiers. Termites are well-known for their skilfully constructed mounds and their positive effects on soil fertility. Most of the about 3,100 species live in Africa and South America, and many species are difficult to distinguish morphologically.

This project concerns the unique termite collection of Eberhard Ernst, which after his premature death reached the Natural History Museum in Basel. The collection, which consists of more than 11'000 vials with an estimated 100'000 specimens, is in urgent need of reconditioning, as E. Ernst's system with individual glass vials filled with ethanol bears the danger of desiccation of valuable specimens. We aim to bring together detailed locality and ecological data from various documents and notes and match it with the worker, soldier and king and queen specimens. The digitized collection will prove a unique resource for termite specialists, ecologists and climate change scientists from all over the world.

Results

All processed specimens:

Digitised "type" specimens^*:

• 115 scanned or photographed

^{* reference specimen for naming and describing a species.}

Summary

It is well known that there are many new discoveries to be made in the tropics, but it might be more surprising that also about 1/5 of the Swiss fauna is still considered to be unrecorded. Darwin wasps (Ichneumonidae), and especially their poorly researched subfamily Campopleginae, are believed to harbour many of these “hidden” species. They attack mainly the caterpillars of small moths, and due to this parasitoid lifestyle, they are at the top of the insect food web and thus play an important regulatory role in agriculture.

This project aims to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge of the Swiss biodiversity by conditioning, identifying, and digitizing about 5,800 Campopleginae specimens already preserved in the natural history collections of Basel, Lausanne, Bern and St. Gallen. Through detailed macro-photography, we are furthermore going to provide virtual access to the primary types of about 115 Campopleginae species, mainly from the J. F. Aubert collection in Lausanne.

Our knowledge on this highly neglected taxon will be drastically improved, including historical data to allow inferences about faunal changes in this ecologically and economically highly important group. The project will put applied research about the use of these parasitoids as natural enemies and biocontrol agents in agriculture on a solid basis, and the training aspects will help overcome the shortage in taxonomic expertise on these wasps in our country.

Outreach

• Two radio interviews (RTS1) with the co-grantee at the Musée de Zoologie in Lausanne.
• Television interview with Noah Meier, the hired project leader, aired in the SRF news “Tagesschau” on 06.04.2024

Results

All processed specimens:

Digitised "type" specimens^*:

• 9 scanned or photographed.

^{* reference specimen for naming and describing a species}

Summary

The natural history museum St.Gallen owns a small but very valuable snail shell collection inherited from Johann Daniel Wilhelm Hartmann (1793-1863). He collected the shells together with his father between 1820 to 1860. This shell collection bares a number of type specimens that are of high scientific value. Currently, the shells are housed together with other shells Hartmann received from colleagues in 16 original cherrywood drawers. Unfortunately, the glue that Hartmann used at the time now slowly degenerates and the shells are getting loose. Loose shells also mean the loss of information concerning locality and the original species determination, which are written on the base of the drawers. Therefore, we intend to restore the collection and revise the species determination. With the support of the SwissCollNet we can now hire the mollusc expert Dr. Eike Neubert. He will support K. Urfer to professionally restore and redetermine the shells. We will then store and digitise these precious snail shells. Finalising this project means a complete digitalization of all Swiss snail shells housed at the Naturmuseum St.Gallen, which are then made accessible for the scientific world and everyone else who is interested in the collection of Johann Hartmann.

Results

3'700 specimens reconditioned and databased.

Summary

The Natural History Museum of Geneva (MHNG) harbours a very rich collection of spiders that probably ranks among the 10 world best. During the last century, more than 3000 spiders from Switzerland were collected by former curators of the MHNG arthropod collection and local independent naturalists. However, the major part of this material is still not identified because of the lack of interest by contemporary specialists who remain more focused on tropical fauna. The aim of the present project is to identify this dormant material and make the data available to specialists through online naturalist platforms and biodiversity inventories. The planned work will thus contribute to increase the value and visibility of the local spider collection at MHNG. Moreover, the newly generated distribution data will permit to improve our knowledge of arachnological distribution ranges and diversity in Switzerland, as well as to potentially assess more accurately changes induced by climatic and environmental changes to this fauna during the last century.

Outreach

Loria, P. (2023). Cinq premières et une deuxième mention d’araignées pour la Suisse (Araneae). Entomo
Helvetica 16 : 119–131.

Results

All processed specimens:

• 9'719 reconditioned, revised, databased, and reorganized.

Digitised "type" specimens^*:

• 1'481 reconditioned, revised, databased, and reorganized.

^{* reference specimen for naming and describing a species.}

Summary

Water mites are one of the most species rich groups in fresh water ecosystems. They are used as bioindicators for water quality and on top of that visually attractive. In Europe, exist almost 1’000 species of which more than 150 are solely connected to springheads.

In Switzerland, the collection and study of water mites had a long tradition at the Natural History Museum of Basel, including unique so-called type specimens among the several 1000 microslide preparations. Recently, uncountable numbers of water mites were collected during national biodiversity initiatives and stored at the Museum of Zoology in Lausanne without further investigation. However, water mites remain understudied in Switzerland and the access to data of the collected specimens is difficult.

The Swiss water mite digitisation project will change this. Historical collections will be screened for type specimens and their data digitised. Already available data will be translated to international standards and so far untouched samples will be sorted, prepared, determined, properly stored and digitised to make the objects and object data finally available for research.

Results

All processed specimens:

^{* Number of glass tubes containing multiple specimens, microscopic slides, and mounted specimens.}

Digitised "type" specimens**:

• 4 reconditioned, revised, databased, and reorganised.
• 2 scanned or photographed.

^{** reference specimen for naming and describing a species}

Summary

Heidi Günthart from Dielsdorf (ZH) has investigated and documented the Swiss Auchenorrhyncha fauna for more than 50 years. As one of the first female entomologists in the country, she has contributed significantly to the current state of knowledge and over time has built up an Auchenorrhyncha collection that is unique in Switzerland. Thanks to her research, the number of reported species from Switzerland has increased from 70 to almost 500. Most of the records originated from the Swiss National Park (SNP) and the surroundings.

The collection, which was donated to the Natural History Museum Basel (NMB) by Heidi Günthart in 2012, comprises approx. 140 plastic boxes with around 60 glass tubes each. There is a total of 486 species from 15 families with about 31,000 specimens.

The collection of Heidi Günthart needs to be integrated into the existing entomological collection of the NMB and specimen records digitised.

The revised collection will serve as a reference for Auchenorrhyncha, unique for Switzerland, and thus support the scientific potential of collections for present and future research and expertise in taxonomy.

Results

All processed specimens:

• 2'407 databased, scanned, and reorganized.

Digitised "type" specimens^*:

• 1'524 databased, scanned, and reorganized.

^{* reference specimen for naming and describing a species}

Summary

In biological nomenclature, "types" are specimens that are present when a species is described. In natural history collections, types are among the most valuable specimens and are studied by researchers worldwide. They are at considerable risk of damage or complete loss due to excessive handling, shipping, and inappropriate storage during loans. To protect these valuable type specimens, the current project will generate digital representations of the physical specimens by 3D imaging. These can easily be sent around the world and worked on. 3D technologies allow not only for detailed studies of traditional morphological features such as distances, textures, and patterns, but also for measuring surface areas and volumes, which so far have been neglected in taxonomic descriptions. The applicants would be the first entomological collections to establish 3D imaging in Switzerland. In the current project, around 2'200 name-bearing type specimens and 200 exemplar specimens will be 3D scanned using photogrammetry. In addition, special use cases are being investigated in (inter)national collaborations, e.g. scanning of very small, flat or relatively large insects. A user group and a workshop on 3D imaging will help other Swiss collections to introduce the technology in their own institutions. Lessons learned will be published as a best practice paper.

Outreach

Publications

• Rosa P., Felsner C., Heim R., Greeff M., Michez D. & Bernasconi M.V. (2025) The Palaearctic types of Chrysididae (Insecta, Hymenoptera) deposited in the Linsenmaier collection. Part 5. Elampini: genus Holopyga Dahlbom, 1845. Zootaxa, 5565 (1), 1–66. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5565.1.1

Conferences

• Talk "Digitalisierung von Insektensammlungen an der ETH Zürich und in der Schweiz" given by Felsner and Greeff during the Symposium D3 (Diversität, Digitalisierung, Didaktik) held at the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt on 25.05.2024.
• Workshop "So scannen Sie Insektenproben in 3D und erstellen beeindruckende 3D-Modelle, inkl. AG 3D-Sitzung" given by Felsner and Greeff during the 15. Jahrestagung für Universitätssammlungen at ETH Zürich and Universität Zürich from 13.-15.06.2024.
• Online-Presentation "3D-Scans von Insektenproben" given by Felsner and Greeff for the German working group AG3D on 05.06.2024.

Events

• The Museum für Gestaltung Zürich will host an exhibition titled "Museum of the Future —17 Digital Experiments" from August 29, 2025, to January 18, 2026. In this exhitibion, twelve 3D models generated by our project team will be shown.

Media coverage

• Gaudenz Valentin Looser, "Diese Tierart gibt es erst seit 13 Jahren", published in the 20 Minuten on April 23, 2025.

Results

All processed specimens:

Digitised "type" specimens*:

• 807 reconditioned
• 3'409 databased
• 1'361 scanned or photographed

* reference specimen for naming and describing a species

Summary

Among the specimens found in natural history collections, type specimens are of particular importance because they are the only specimens that may be consulted when assessing the correct application of a scientific name. As such, they are indispensable for taxonomic and systematic research. Type-holding institutions must thus ensure that such material is both visible and accessible to the international scientific community. The goal of this project is to enhance the storage conditions and overall visibility of the zoological type material held at institutions in the canton of Neuchâtel, namely the Museum of Natural History of Neuchâtel and MUZOO of La Chaux-de-Fonds. We intend to recondition type specimens, digitize label information, photograph specimens and publish all data and metadata related to our type collections online. Data will be published on platforms such as the Swiss Virtual Natural History Collection (SVNHC) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility platform (GBIF) according to the Fair Principles and the ABCD-EFG schema for the exchange of biodiversity data. The results of this project will facilitate scientific research in the fields of taxonomy and systematics, foment a greater understanding of the type collections in the canton of Neuchâtel and heighten public awareness concerning the contents of our collections.