Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 100. (Budapest 2008)

Bálint, Zs.: Lepidoptera collections of historical importance in the Hungarian Natural History Museum

ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Volume 100 Budapest, 2008 pp. 17-35. Lepidoptera collections of historical importance in the Hungarian Natural History Museum ZS. BÁLINT Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum H-1088 Budapest, Baross utca 13, Hungary. E-mail: balint@zoo.nbmus.hu Abstract - The historical background of the Lepidoptera collection of TOBIAS KOY (1757-1829), FERDINAND OCHSENHEIMER (1767-1822), FRIEDRICH TREITSCHKE (1776-1842) and IMRE FRIVALDSZKY (1799-1870) is discussed in the light of their personalities and connections with lepidopterology in Hungary and Europe. The present state of the collections is briefly described and data are provided how specimens have been preserved, labelled and curated. Representative specimens and their labels from each collections are documented. With 17 figures and one table. Keywords - Entomology, lepidopterology, history, collections, types, personalities. INTRODUCTION The fates of private entolomogical collections acquired by a large institute, such as the Hungarian Natural History Museum, is that the specimens are amalgamated into the general collections, which are curated either on the basis of zoogeographical regions or phylogenetic relationships. Although the private collection itself, the masterpiece of an entomologist created during a whole life, disappears, but in a well curated scientific collection all the specimens can be traced back on the basis of the inventory label placed on every individual specimens incorporated (ACKERY & GOODGER 2004). However, if the amalgamated collection is large and diverse, its importance is obvious simply by the long series of specimens in the material or by the unique specimens of rare species. If the collection is small or modest, its existence becomes faded and subsequently only experts or the curators can recognise it.