NATURAL SCIENCES

This quarter, a major focus has been following up from Professor Kipling Will’s visit in November 2022. Kip from the University of California, Berkeley, is a world authority on ground beetles, family Carabidae, and reliably named many previously unidentified beetles in the QVMAG collection. Kip’s expertise has enabled new specimens to be registered, contributing to 90% of the 1,288 new invertebrate registrations for this quarter. 185 records already on the database were edited to add identifications.

Kip also provided the current taxonomic order for this family. The collection of these beetles, housed in four entomology cabinets, has since been reordered and relabelled.

Digitising collection items was progressed. The botany database had 474 images added, bringing the total number of specimens photographed to 12,750, approximately 50% of the collection.

A further 380 images of minerals were added to the Geology database, totalling 3,500 specimens photographed so far, which is approximately 30% of that collection.

A further 76 specimens from the Lambkin/Knight butterfly collection were registered. This is a labourintensive task as each pinned specimen needs to be examined to record the collection data from the accompanying label, which for many of the older specimens requires research to confirm current place names. A registration label is added before the specimen is replaced in its unit tray. 829 specimens have been registered so far.

A total of 68 spiders were registered into the collection. This includes specimens collected in the field, specimens brought in by the public and previously unregistered specimens in the collection. Of those registered, 37 have either been undescribed species or specimens which cannot be identified to species. For example, three specimens of wolf spider collected at Beechford in January this year are currently being looked at by Dr Volker Framenau at Murdoch University, Western Australia, to determine if they are a new species.

It is estimated that around a third of Tasmania’s spider fauna has yet to be named by taxonomists and many more species are undergoing taxonomic and molecular revisions. Through liaising with experts, QVMAG is developing an important and well named Tasmanian spider collection.

4 RESEARCH ENQUIRIES

4 COLLECTION ENQUIRIES

854 IMAGE UPLOADS

1,412 RECORD UPLOADS

Collection Specific Programs And Events

5 COLLECTION TOURS FOR A TOTAL OF 25 PEOPLE; COMPRISING OF:

CITY OF LAUNCESTON INDUCTION TOURS

PHD STUDENTS

RESEARCH VISITORS

PUBLIC

PARTNERSHIPS

QVMAG Natural Sciences Team received an invitation from City of Launceston Parks and Sustainability to attend workshops to develop an Implementation Plan for the upcoming Urban Greening Strategy.