Museum Encyrtid Holdings - (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea)

Compiled by Serguei V. Triapitsyn, 1999
Updated February 2000

Historical Notes:

The UCR collection of the Encyrtidae is one of the largest and most important collections of this family in the world.  It contains specimens determined to 779 valid species (if type material of the numerous described species, now under synonymy with other species, were counted, the number of species represented in the collection would be around 1,000).  The collection has representatives of 261 genera that currently are considered valid, with many undetermined specimens and species in these genera.  In addition, our important slide collection of Encyrtidae (perhaps the largest in the world) has about 8,000 slides.

The value of this collection is not only in the mere number of the taxa represented.  Many of the specimens have host records, many of which have not yet been reported in scientific literature.  The collection contains numerous voucher specimens of the biological control projects conducted by California entomologists.  Such voucher specimens are in fact the backbone of the collection.

The UCR Encyrtidae collection was started by P. H. Timberlake who brought a part of his Hawaiian collection, including numerous paratypes of the taxa he described before being hired by the Citrus Experiment Station at UCR.  Unfortunately for Encyrtid systematics, soon after he moved into California, Timberlake completely lost his interest in micro-Hymenoptera and switched his efforts to bee taxonomy.  Until 1970's, the collection was augmented mainly due to the work by H. Compere, with notable contributions of specimens from collecting activities by P. Timberlake, J. Maple, P. DeBach, C. Clausen, and others.  During 1970's-1980's, G. Gordh, J. LaSalle, J. Woolley, J. Pinto, and J. Beardsley added sizable contributions to the collection from Australia, Mexico, the US, and other countries.  Presently, the collection is growing rapidly due to the collecting activities of the UCR entomologists now on staff, especially J. Heraty and his students.

The majority of specimens in the collection were identified by the systematists who at different time worked at UCR: P. Timberlake, H. Compere, and G. Gordh.  In 1997, V. Trjapitzin identified a number of specimens to genera and species.  In 1998, about 30 drawers full of miscellaneous Encyrtidae were sorted to genera by J. Noyes.  The complete re-organization of the Encyrtidae collection by S. Triapitsyn, its current curator, followed and is now complete.

A list of valid genera and species in the collection (both on points and on slides) is presented below; unpublished names and nomina nuda are italicized.