History of Entomology Studies

A background to entomology studies at Lincoln University.

The Lincoln University Entomology Research Collection

The Entomology Research Collection houses about 250,000 pinned insect specimens and several thousand insects and related arthropod specimens in ethanol storage.  The collection is comprised of specimens largely from within New Zealand, and has strengths in the fauna of the South Island (particularly the National Parks), the Chatham Islands and the New Zealand subantarctic islands. The collection also includes a wide range of specimens of agricultural and horticultural importance.  Taxonomically, its strengths are spiders, beetles (Coleoptera), South Island tussock grassland moths (Lepidoptera) from decades of repeated sampling at Cass, parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera), and flies (Diptera). It is a scientific  resource of national and international importance and is the only comprehensive University-based collection in New Zealand.

The beginnings...

The collection can be traced back to the first days of the University’s existence as the School of Agriculture, Canterbury University College. Upon its opening in 1880, William Ivey was the sole academic staff member, so visiting lecturers were common.  In the first two years, natural science was taught by Frederick Hutton, at that time Professor of Biology at Canterbury College and later director of the Canterbury Museum, who had half his salary paid by the school. He presented an insect collection to the institution, some elements of which still remain including their original drawers; these formed the nucleus of the current research collections. The entomology collection initially consisted mostly of boxes of specimens used for teaching, and was supplemented through light-trapping on campus in the Orchard Car Park. It began to grow following the appointment of Roy Harrison as the University's first Professor of Entomology. The collection grew rapidly from that time, particularly as a result of annual Departmental collecting trips to areas of the country that were poorly known entomologically. These trips ceased in the 1990s but the collection continues to be actively added to through research-related  collecting by staff and students.