Zamorano’s Contributions to the Understanding of Arthropod Biodiversity in Honduras

Abstract

The Zamorano Arthropod Collection was founded more than 30 years ago. It includes more than 250,000 specimens, with the dominant orders being Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera. Data of more than 90,000 of the identified insect specimens are digitized in a comprehensive database, and were collected in more than 300 sites, most within Honduras. The inventories of scarab and longhorn beetles, as well as of hymenopterous parasitoids, are of outstanding scientific value and unique in the region. Four influential projects, financed by external funds, were performed during the first 25 years of the collection´s existence, and are described with their main achievements: 1) inventory of the parasitoids of the sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius); 2) diversity and biology of jewel scarab Chrysina spp. (Scarabaeidae); 3) inventory of the scarab beetle subfamily Dynastinae (Scarabaeidae); and 4) advanced capacity-building for teachers, nature reserve guards, and guides in various aspects of entomology. Often, support is provided in the way of coordination, logistics, and implementation for foreign entomological research projects in Honduras. Also, in cooperation with national foundations and governmental institutions, research on the arthropod biodiversity of protected areas in Honduras is conducted. For most of these, only fragmentary or no data still exist concerning the present arthropod fauna. During the coming years, the Zamorano Arthropod Collection will be united with another collection of outstanding regional importance, The Entomological Museum currently located in León, Nicaragua; this will add another 250,000 specimens, mainly collected in Nicaragua, to the Zamorano collection. Therefore, the Zamorano collection will house about 500,000 insect specimens and will evolve into the most comprehensive and representative arthropod collection of both Honduras and Nicaragua, becoming one of the largest and most important arthropod collections in Central America.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/ceiba.v52i1.1036