Insect Collections of Canada Series Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids ...

26 Pages·2012·5.44 MB·English

15 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada
Insect Collections of Canada Series
Canadian National Collection of Insects,
Arachnids & Nematodes, Ottawa
Owen Lonsdale & John T. Huber
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
K.W. Neatby Building, Central Experimental Farm, 960 Carling Ave.
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C6
E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
The Canadian National Collection
of Insects, Arachnids & Nematodes
(CNC) is one of the largest collections
of its kind in the world, and certainly
the largest in Canada, housing at least
15–17 million specimens. The CNC
now resides primarily on the 3rd and
4th floors of the south wing of the
K.W. Neatby Building, located at 960
Carling Avenue, Ottawa (Figs 63–66).
This is on the north end of the Central
Experimental Farm (CEF), a 427
hectare National Historic Site adjacent
to Dow’s Lake and the Rideau Canal.
The Neatby is recognized as a Heritage
Building and the south wing (see
photo at right), which was built to house the records of Canadian Southwestern view of
personnel who served overseas in World War I, was constructed in the Neatby Building.
1936–1938 (the north and east wings were constructed by 1956).
Since it was designed to hold the massive weight of row upon row of filing cabinets
filled with paper, it is ideal for bearing the weight of the ~1500 cabinets that comprise
the CNC. Although the CEF was initially positioned on the outskirts of Ottawa, it has
since been enclosed by the expanding city, and the north end could be considered to
be relatively close to downtown. The “Farm” is also home to several other institutions,
including the Dominion Arboretum, the Canada Agricultural Museum, the Dominion
Observatory, the National Collections of Vascular Plants, the National Mycological
Herbarium, and the Canadian collection of Fungal cultures.
One of the first homes for the insect collection was the Victoria Memorial Building
on McLeod Street east of O’Connor (built 1905–1912) which contained the National
Museum. Today, this building is known as the Canadian Museum of Nature. In 1917,
the collection was moved to Entomology Branch on the fifth and sixth floors of the Birks
Building, to make room in the Victoria for Canada’s parliamentarians after the Houses of
Parliament burnt in 1916 (Fig. 3). Then in the Department of Agriculture, these insects
comprised Canada’s “National” collection, and have continued under the custodianship of
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).
The collection was moved once again in 1931, this time to the Confederation Building
(Fig. 4), on the northwest corner of Bank and Wellington between Parliament Hill and the
Supreme Court of Canada. It was transported to the Confederation Building by horse-
drawn wagon by W. Brown and G.S. Walley, among the first insect taxonomists hired to
work at the CNC (see Table 1, p. 38). The wagons were specially outfitted with rubber
tires for the move, and were the first in the department to have them. By 1949 the
collection had been moved to its current location on the CEF (Cumming et al. 2011).
The year 2011 is particularly relevant for the CNC and the Central Experimental Farm.
It was 125 years ago on June 2, 1886, when the first five Canadian research farms
were created within the Department of Agriculture after receiving Royal Assent for the
Experimental Farm Station Act. These farms were in Agassiz (British Columbia), Indian
Head (Saskatchewan), Brandon (Manitoba), Ottawa (Ontario) and Nappan (Nova Scotia)
(AAFC 2011).
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16 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada
Figures 1 to 5: Fig. 1: James Fletcher, first Dominion Entomologist (photo courtesy of K. Wonders). Fig.
2: Meeting of the Entomological Society at Ottawa, Nov. 18-20, 1912; C. Gordon Hewitt is in the front
row, fourth from the left. Fig. 3: The Parliament buildings in Ottawa the morning after the Great Fire
of 1916; originally printed in The New York Times, Feb. 13, 1916. Fig. 4: The Confederation Building,
Ottawa, home to the National Collection of Insects 1931-1949. Fig. 5: Entomological Branch, Depart-
ment of Agriculture, Ottawa Conference, Nov. 26-30, 1934; Arthur Gibson is standing in the front row,
seventh from the left, and J. McDunnough is behind him to the right.
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17 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada
EARLY YEARS
Systematics in Ottawa was inaugurated by James Fletcher (Fig. 1) (b. 1852, Ashe,
Kent Co., England; d. 1908) when he donated his personal collection to Agriculture
Canada in 1886. This was the seed that would later grow into what we now know as
the CNC. Fletcher first came to Canada in 1874 as an employee of the Bank of British
North America, and would later become an accountant in the Library of Parliament.
His work at the Library continued after becoming an honorary entomologist in the
Dominion Department of Agriculture in 1884, but he finally left his accounting position
for entomology full-time when he was appointed the first Dominion Entomologist in 1886
(Cody et al. 1986).
In 1899, Arthur Gibson (Fig. 5) became Assistant Entomologist to Fletcher and his
material contributed greatly to the developing insect collection, along with accumulating
donations from private collectors and entomologists from across the country. Gibson later
worked with C. Gordon Hewitt (Fig. 2), who succeeded Fletcher as Dominion Entomologist
until Hewitt’s early death of pleural pneumonia in February, 1920, a victim of the global
influenza epidemic (Spencer 1964). During his short but intense career, Hewitt was able
to oversee completion of the Destructive Insect and Pest Act of 1910, which prevented the
spread of injurious/invasive insects and disease, and was essential to the development
of professional entomology in Canada. Hewitt brought entomology to prominence,
contributing to the creation of the Canadian Entomological Service, which was later
transformed into the Entomology Branch (1914), a separate entity within the Department
of Agriculture. Entomology Branch was initially divided into the Division of Field Crop and
Garden Insects and the Division of Forest Insects. Five years later (1919), the Divisions
of Foreign Pests Suppression and (most significantly for the CNC) Systematic Entomology
were established. Gibson was made Chief of the Division of Field Crop and Garden Insects,
and was promoted to Chief of Entomology Branch and Associate Director of the Service
when the Branch became part of the new Science Service in 1938 (Cody et al. 1986).
A GROWING COLLECTION
Major early additions to the Canadian National Collection of Insects resulted from large-
scale surveys motivated in no small part by war efforts and a maturing national identity.
From 1913–1918 (during the 1st World War), the Canadian Arctic Expedition added many
specimens to the collection. This coincided with the acquisition of material purchased
from private collections such as the Geddes (Lepidoptera), Evans (Coleoptera), Young
(Lepidoptera) and Harrington (Hymenoptera) collections. The collection of the Biological
Division of the Geological Survey, Department of Mines was added in 1917 to form the
National Collection, and in the coming years this was also to see incorporation of the
collections of the Topographical Survey and those of various field officers. Among other
specimens, the material of the Geological Survey contained what are now the oldest mite
slides in the CNC (Figs 8, 9). These mites were collected by the interesting character
Joseph Burr Tyrrell, who wandered much of northern Canada at a time when it was said
that this could not be done, and later ended up making a fortune during the gold rush in
northern Ontario (see Robertson 2008). By this time, the entire pinned collection of the
CNC fit within 600 drawers in 12 cabinets (Cody et al. 1986).
In 1919, Hewitt appointed James McDunnough (a Lepidopterist) Chief of the Division
of Systematic Entomology, and gave him the mandate to develop the national collection
and a taxonomic library, both of which were soon the largest in the country. The 1920s
saw the purchase of additional collections, including the Wolley-Dod (Lepidoptera),
Sladen (Hymenoptera), Cockle, Swaine (Scolytidae), Reherne (Thysanoptera) and Curran
(Diptera) collections. In 1922, C.H. Curran was the first Ottawa entomologist hired to
specialize on Diptera, but in 1928 he left for a position at the American Museum of Natural
History, New York (Cumming et al. 2011). Acquisition of the D’Urban collection (Fig. 6)
added some of the oldest material held by the CNC, with specimens dating to 1858, but
a representative of the butterfly Papilio glaucus canadensis is certainly the oldest known,
having been collected by R.T. Bell in 1846 (Fig. 7).
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Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 18
Figures 6 to 9: Fig. 6: Part of the D’Urban collection of 1858 (primary types are kept separately); in-
set: handwritten letter by E.B. Reed. Fig. 7: Papilio glaucus canadensis, collected by R.T. Bell, and the
oldest known specimen in the CNC. Figs 8, 9: CNC type specimens of water mites (Tyrrellia circularis
Koenike and Feltria minuta Koenike) collected by J.B. Tyrrell.
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19 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada
These early years also saw collection increases due to focused taxonomic surveys
by McDunnough and other CNC officers and, by 1930, the collection consisted of 2100
drawers in 42 steel cabinets (Cody et al. 1986).
SURVEYS
When considering collections of this size and age, it is difficult to determine exactly
how much content is due to the collecting efforts of individual scientists, receipt of
donations, or collection mergers. However, it is certain that much of the CNC is a result
of many large-scale arthropod surveys that took place within Canada and elsewhere. One
of the earliest of such surveys was the Forest Insect Survey (FIS) of the Canadian Forest
Service (CFS), which at the time was part of the Department of Agriculture. The Survey
was inaugurated in 1936 in eastern Canada as a result of a severe outbreak of European
Spruce Sawfly. Coverage was increased until, by 1940, the more accessible forested
areas of Canada were covered from five regional centres, later increased to a maximum
of 11 centres (McGugan 1958, Danks 1984) (Fig. 10). The Survey, renamed the Forest
Insect and Disease Survey (FIDS), was in continuous operation until it was disbanded
in 1996. All unknown or doubtful adult material, as well as a selection of specimens of
better known species collected during this long-running survey, was sent to the Insect
Systematics and Biological Control Unit of the Entomology Division (as it was then
named) for confirmation or authoritative identification. This material is still housed in the
CNC and, for Lepidoptera alone, consists of about 1000 species. It is difficult to estimate
the total number of FIDS specimens in the CNC because the proportion of specimens
varies widely depending on the taxon. A rough estimate, however, is that this survey
contributed about 5–10% of total CNC holdings, with most specimens representing
wood borers, tree defoliators, and their parasitoids (especially Ichneumonoidea and
Tachinidae). This scientifically valuable material has contributed to much of what is now
known of the life history of forest insects.
Other surveys were due in part to the personal taxonomic interests of individual
scientists who collected at their favourite sites or where they felt the fauna was poorly
known, but many surveys, including the Canadian Arctic Expedition (1913-1918),
coincided with national interests (Vockeroth 1981). During the Second World War and the
Cold War, the Department of National Defense (DND) established bases and the Distant
Early Warning (DEW) stations in the north, with additional sites planned. The unfortunate
workers and soldiers stationed in Alaska and northern Canada for these efforts were,
of course, subject to legions of biting flies (Figs 13, 14). The entomologists of Ottawa
were asked to head north to study the regional fauna and test various repellants, and
could be seen sitting outdoors with pants and sleeves rolled up for King (or Queen) and
country (Fig. 12). Drums of DDT were shipped north and this pesticide was used around
the bases to mitigate fly problems, often being dispersed from Air Force planes equipped
with sprayers (Fig. 11). This strongly supported survey was eventually to become the
Northern Insect Survey (1946–1961) (Figs 11–23), and resulted in the creation of many
new taxonomist positions for the CNC, which in turn contributed greatly to the size of
the collection. The correlation between taxonomists and CNC holdings is seen clearly
in Fig. 57, where CNC specimen number increases sharply from the late 1940s to the
1960s. A national interest in native insects was something new for Canada and, in the
words of G.J. Spencer (1964), that interest owed “an enormous and hitherto completely
unrealized and unacknowledged debt to Japan and to the Soviet Union in connection with
the building up of the National Collection”.
The Northern Insect Survey was developed largely under the direction of Thomas
Freeman (Fig. 30), following an initial solo expedition he made to Baker Lake in 1947
with the cooperation of the DND and, presumably, the strong urging of the American
government. The Northern Insect Survey was the first large-scale and unified effort to
enlarge the holdings of the collection and resulted in the incorporation of an estimated
750,000 specimens collected by 66 field parties in almost 70 localities (Fig. 22) (Freeman
1959, Vockeroth 1981, Cody et al. 1986). Because of the importance and scope of
this survey, a follow-up survey funded by NSERC and a variety of partners is currently
underway. This second survey is largely ecological in focus and will examine changes
in climate, as well as the northern fauna and its ecological structure (see http://
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20 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada
Figures 10 to 19: Fig. 10: Regional organization of the Canadian Forest Insect Survey and the location
of labs (from McGugan (1958)). Fig. 11: Spraying team, Churchill, 1947. Fig. 12: Testing insect repel-
lants, Churchill, MB, 1947. Fig. 13: Tabanids swarming an entomologist in Churchill, 1947. Fig. 14:
Joe Chambers and an unlucky dog surrounded by even more flies, Churchill, 1947. Fig. 15: J.R. “Dick”
Vockeroth, Churchill, 1950, and, more recently (inset). Fig. 16: Scenery in Churchill, 1947. Fig. 17:
Collecting larval tabanids, Churchill, 1949. Fig. 18: Blackfly emergence cage, Churchill, 1949. Fig. 19:
Mosquito larval assessment, Whitehorse, YT, 1950.
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21 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada
insectecology.mcgill.ca/NBP/index.html and note the article by Patrick Shaeffer in this
issue on the biting fly component of the new survey, p. 41). A second unit outside of
the Survey included Veterinary and Medical Entomologists led by C.R. Twinn (Fig. 23)
who investigated the life history, ecology and control of problematic insects (Figs 17–19)
(Spencer 1964). The period of new discoveries up to the mid-1950s for entomologists
specializing in all Orders of insects is well documented in Holland (1956).
George P. Holland (Fig. 27), appointed head of Systematics in 1948 (Fig. 31), should
receive much recognition for increasing staff numbers during the period of the Northern
Insect Survey (Figs 24, 32, 33). He left a professional staff of 45 by the time he retired as
director in 1976. Holland staffed the CNC with eager young entomologists who set forth
to document life in the north. These included several dozen young summer students such
as W.R.M. Mason (Fig. 29) (at CNC from 1948–1987) and Dick Vockeroth (Fig. 15) (at
CNC from 1949–1991), who were later to become CNC taxonomists. The students and
staff were dropped off at various locations in the middle of the tundra or sub-arctic forest
at the beginning of each summer with the promise of being picked up before autumn
set in. A party usually consisted of two men, and a locality was rarely visited twice. An
excellent summary of the survey is discussed in Freeman (1959). Trips didn’t always go
as planned, however, as Vockeroth was left at the wrong location one summer and had to
scavenge old Inuit caches of canned food in order to survive. In another instance, another
young student by the name of Wilhems was left at Coral Harbour (Inuit - Salliq) on
Southampton Island, but at the end of the summer when the cold was setting in, nobody
arrived to pick him up. He ended up having to hitchhike all the way back to Ottawa with
his entire season’s collection.
The number of taxonomists began to decline drastically in the late 1970s, resulting in
11 scientists in the late 1990s, a low not seen since about 1950. It must be noted that
the continued increase in CNC specimen holdings after the loss of positions beginning
in the mid-1970s is due to the continued processing of previously collected material
and the incorporation of more efficient collecting techniques (Dang 1992). After the
new millennium, however, the number of taxonomists (AAFC, CFS, and Canadian Food
Inspection Agency (CFIA)) rose slowly to 16 by 2011.
In addition to the above, several other large surveys (Figs 34–44) were conducted by
researchers at the CNC, contributing to the approximately 1 million specimens held in
1948. This number increased to about 7 million in 1969, 13 million in 1984, 15 million
in 1991, and potentially upwards of 17 million today. These surveys included Florida
(1952); the Mojave Desert (1955); New Guinea (1957); North Carolina (1957); southern
Manitoba (1958); southern Texas (1959); Terrace, British Columbia (1960); Colorado
(1961); Mexico (1962, 1969); Nepal (1967); St. Lawrence Islands National Park, Ontario
(1975–1976); Kouchibouguac National Park, New Brunswick (1977–1978); Riding
Mountain National Park, Manitoba (1979); Kluane National Park, Yukon (1980); Waterton
National Park, Alberta (1980); Gatineau Park, Quebec (1982); and Cape Breton Highlands
National Park, Nova Scotia (1983–1984). Surveys since the 1980s have been slightly
different in nature, with trips arranged through groups such as the North American
Dipterists Society, or coordinated through projects such as the eastern United States
Hymenoptera Survey and the Costa Rican biodiversity inventory. The parties now consist
largely of individuals or groups of taxonomists who may come from different institutions
as well, rather than large CNC expeditions.
These surveys have greatly increased our knowledge of our native fauna and
the variation in species composition across space and time, established taxonomic
boundaries, discovered new taxa, and provided invaluable information on natural
relationships, hosts, ecological roles and human impacts. Foreign excursions have
additionally enabled the discovery of the sister taxa of our native fauna, and allowed us
to broaden our overall knowledge of the invertebrate world so that we can make more
informed decisions and develop predictive classifications and identification tools. Perhaps
most importantly for agriculture, these expeditions have resulted in the discovery of
potential pest species before they invade Canada, and foreign biocontrol species for
pests that have already been introduced. By differentiating foreign from native we can
preemptively search and prepare for potentially problematic groups that may cause
trouble in Canada should they arrive, recalling the idiom: “an ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure”.
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Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 22
Figures 20 to 26: Fig. 20: Expedition team in Fort Nelson, BC, 1949. Fig. 21: Taking a break in Goose Bay,
Labrador, 1950. Fig. 22: Tom Freeman and A.B. Klots (American Museum of Natural History, and author of
the Peterson Field Guide to the butterflies of eastern North America, 1951) showing the locations sampled
for the Northern Insect Survey. Fig. 23: E. van Steenburgh and C.R. Twinn, Whitehorse, YT, 1948. Fig. 24:
The zenith of Nematology at the CNC, with 12 staff members in 1957. Fig. 25: The “Centennial of Entomol-
ogy in Canada” Carleton University, September, 1963, with displays provided by CNC staff. Fig. 26: Most of
the ethanol-preserved collection is still maintained as it was in 1960.
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Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 23
PRESENT DAY
While early Canadian entomologists mostly had their hands full with the exploration of the
fauna of a new country and the naming of species, recent and contemporary entomologists
(Figs 45–56) now build on the accomplishments of these pioneers. These contemporary
workers produce not only alpha-level works, but also major taxonomic syntheses, e.g.
Coleoptera and Hemiptera catalogues of Canada, and various parts of the Moths of North
America (MONA) series. Today’s entomologists now work globally with molecular and
morphological data to reconstruct the roots of life on the planet and examine patterns as
they relate to biodiversity, biogeography, human health, and Canadian and global resources.
As the collection increased in number of specimens, described species and taxonomic
staff, generalists gave way to specialists and the CNC units were divided logically by major
taxonomic group, i.e., by Order. In addition to the taxon-based curatorial units, research
was organized from 1987–1991 into “Beneficial Insects” (Fig. 55), “Pests” and “Water and
Soil organisms” (the “Mud” group, as recalled by one scientist) and later into “Bioindicator”,
Biocontrol” and “Pests + nematodes”. Furthermore, two non-taxonomic components were
included in Systematic Entomology from 1959-1984 - an Experimental Biology group and
Apiculture.
Individual and collaborative research of the staff remains based on AAFC priorities,
but efforts are now grouped within a single Project led by P. Mason, a research scientist
in biological control. Curatorial activities, however, are arranged among the eight units
listed below. Currently, there are 16 AAFC taxonomists conducting research and curating
the CNC supported by 17 technicians, but there has not been a “spider man” since the
retirement of C. Dondale (1972–1990). There is also one scientist and technician from
CFS and one contract scientist and three indeterminate biologists and scientists from CFIA
housed within the CNC. Three more CFIA staff members are located in adjacent Building 18
[H. Douglas (Coleoptera), B. Gill (Coleoptera), D. Parker (general) (Fig. 67)], but appear
frequently in the CNC to use the collection and Neatby library in performance of their duties.
Regular appearances are also made by scientists from the Canadian Museum of Nature,
particularly A. Smith, who recently curated much of the unidentified CNC Scarabaeoidea,
and R. Anderson, a specialist on weevils (Curculionidae). In addition to research staff, the
Collections Manager, O. Lonsdale (a Dipterist), is supported by three technicians for curation
and loans, plus a Database Technician. There are also two illustrators, one of whom also
illustrates for botanists in the Saunders Building. A complete list of research scientists,
biologists and other professional staff from inception of the collection is provided in Table 1
(p. 38).
CNC CURATORIAL UNITS
The following are the current (2011) curatorial units, staff and research associates of
the CNC (1Research Scientist (AAFC unless noted otherwise); 2Retired scientist/Honorary
Research Associate; 3Technical staff or biologist; 4Research Associate). The Honorary and
Research Associate Program was developed by Don Bright in the 1970s, mirroring the
system developed by the American Museum in New York, which recognizes the important
contributions of numerous scientists in Ottawa who are retired or not employed as
indeterminate staff.
1) Arachnida: Fréderic Beaulieu1, Valerie Behan-Pelletier2, Charles Dondale2, Wayne Knee3,
Evert Lindquist2, Michelle Mackenzie3, Ian Smith1.
The Acari collection is the largest in North America and probably the World. There are
approximately 3 million specimens in alcohol or Koenike’s solution, and well over 350,000
mites and larval ticks slide mounted in Hoyer’s medium or glycerine jelly (Fig. 71). Primary
types include 185 oribatids, 251 water mites, and 251 other mite types, including 1 tick.
Among the spiders and minor arachnid orders, there are nearly 200,000 specimens in
ethanol in 22 cabinets, including about 200 primary types. There is a strong representation
of the Nearctic fauna among this material, particularly from the boreal region. The spiders
and minor orders are presently curated by O. Lonsdale and the Collections Unit, although
most of the work is still done by specialists including C. Dondale and visiting scientists such
as Robb Bennett (Royal British Columbia Museum). Significant research on spiders and mites
began at the CNC with H.H.J. Nesbitt in 1939. Prior to this, it was pursued by officers at field
labs in the divisions of Entomology and Forest Biology (Holland, 1956).
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24 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada
Figures 27 to 31: Fig. 27: George Holland, in formal (inset) and field clothing, hunting rats for the
collection of their fleas. Fig. 28: J. Frank McAlpine, preparing a display. Fig. 29: H. Townes, G.
Heinrich, G.S. Walley and W. Mason (clockwise from front left), April 14, 1960. Fig. 30: Tom Free-
man (right) visiting A.E. Brower in Augusta, ME, April, 1963. Fig. 31: The Division of Entomology,
Ottawa, 1948-1950
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