Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua

Landcare-Research -Manaaki Whenua

Scope of data

Distribution Maps and Phenology Charts

Data from specimens of 79 taxa from two families of Diptera and one family of Lepidoptera have been digitised and standardised to DarwinCore in a TFBIS funded program and summarised here. The 9000 specimens are derived from digitisation of records at six participating museums in New Zealand.

  • Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland
  • Canterbury Museum, Christchurch
  • Lincoln University Entomology Research Museum, Christchurch
  • Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (MONZ), Wellington
  • New Zealand Arthropod Collection (NZAC), Landcare Research, Auckland
  • Otago Museum, Dunedin

Taxonomy and Nomenclature

The taxonomy and nomenclature used primarily follows

Diptera

Dear, J.P. 1985: Calliphoridae (Insecta: Diptera). Fauna of New Zealand No. 8. DSIR, Wellington. 86 p.

Evenhius, N.L. 2007: Family Calliphoridae and Family Syrphidae. In: Evenhuis, N.L. (ed.),Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian Regions. (online version).
Available at: http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/aocat/hybotidae.html

Lepidoptera

Dugdale, J.S. 1988: Lepidoptera : annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa. Fauna of New Zealand No. 14. DSIR, Wellington. 262 p.

Nielsen E.S., Edwards, E.D., Rangsi, T.V. 1996: Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 4. Collingwood, CSIRO Australia. 529 p.

Using and interpreting specimen data for pollinator profiles

Museum specimens provide a verifiable record for the occurrence of taxon in a known place and time. The data from these specimens are therefore valuable for compiling information on known locations and known seasons of activity for potential pollinators. However, care is required in interpreting these data because specimens only provide a positive record of occurrence. We cannot say they are absent in the locations or during the months that they have not been collected, but we can at least say that we know they have been found in certain places at certain times.