Primary type specimens: Lepidoptera

This is a list of 262 primary type specimens of Lepidoptera housed in the N.Z. Arthropod Collection (NZAC), and which since July 1992 have been under the stewardship of Landcare Research. Since April 2004 the collection has been housed in new facilities at a site associated with the Tamaki Campus, University of Auckland, Auckland. Between October 1973 and April 2004 NZAC was housed at the Mt Albert Research Centre, Auckland.

Most of the publications in which these Lepidoptera species were described stated that the primary types were deposited in a DSIR collection located at Auckland or Nelson, or at the Cawthron Institute, Nelson. Between October 1989 and June 1992 NZAC was under the stewardship of DSIR Plant Protection based in Auckland, and before this (October 1973 to September 1989) with Entomology Division, DSIR based in Auckland. Up to September 1973 the major part of NZAC was located at Entomology Division, DSIR (before 1956 as Cawthron Institute or Entomological Research Station) in Nelson, and part was under the stewardship of Plant Diseases Division, DSIR at Mt Albert, Auckland. When Entomology Division, DSIR transferred to the Mt Albert Research Centre site in Auckland from Nelson the two DSIR collections were amalgamated and named NZAC.

The list is in two parts:

• Alphabetical by species
  Information with each primary type specimen is in the following sequence: the species name as in the original publication, author, year of publication (some with additional lower case letters to distinguish between an author's publications in a year for which there were more than one, as in the reference list in Dugdale (1988)), genus the species was originally assigned to, whether the specimen held at NZAC is a holotype, lectotype, or syntype, and family the species is assigned to.
• Alphabetical by family
  Species arranged alphabetically within the family.

The list is based on records in the NZAC specimen database. For many of these primary type specimens an image and further details - such as collector, date, place of collection, and current generic placement - can be obtained by viewing a copy of the database on this web site and choosing the species for which further information is required. Dugdale (1988) also provides additional information about type specimens described before publication of his catalogue.

NZAC Lepidoptera specimens are available for borrowing by bona fide researchers. Before primary type specimens of species described from New Zealand can be sent outside New Zealand, we must obtain a Temporary Export Certificate from the New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage (formerly Department of Internal Affairs) so as to comply with the Antiquities Act legislation of New Zealand. We are required to provide the reference details for the publication describing the species requested, and the name and address of the researcher and institution requesting the primary types. It usually takes about a month to obtain the certificate.

Acknowledgments

We thank Dominic Thoreau for his programming skills in presenting the Lepidoptera project information on this web site. This work was supported by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology under contract no. C09401.

Reference

Dugdale, J.S. 1988: Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group names. Fauna of New Zealand 14. 262 p.