Updates to the checklist of the wild bee fauna of Luxembourg as inferred from revised natural history collection data and fieldwork

Museums and other institutions curating natural history collections (NHCs) are fundamental entities to many scientific disciplines, as they house data and reference material for varied research projects. As such, biological specimens preserved in NHCs represent accessible physical records of the liv...

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Main Authors: Fernanda Herrera Mesías, Alexander Weigand
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pensoft Publishers 2021-05-01
Series:Biodiversity Data Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/64027/download/pdf/
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author Fernanda Herrera Mesías
Alexander Weigand
author_facet Fernanda Herrera Mesías
Alexander Weigand
author_sort Fernanda Herrera Mesías
collection DOAJ
description Museums and other institutions curating natural history collections (NHCs) are fundamental entities to many scientific disciplines, as they house data and reference material for varied research projects. As such, biological specimens preserved in NHCs represent accessible physical records of the living world's history. They provide useful information regarding the presence and distribution of different taxonomic groups through space and time. Despite the importance of museum biological specimens, their potential to answer scientific questions pertinent to the necessities of our current historical context is often under-explored.The currently known wild bee fauna of Luxembourg comprises 341 registered species distributed among 38 different genera. However, specimens stored in the archives of local NHCs represent an untapped resource to update taxonomic lists, including potentially overlooked findings relevant to the development of national conservation strategies.We re-investigated the wild bee collection of the Zoology Department of the National Museum of Natural History Luxembourg by using morphotaxonomy and DNA barcoding. The collection revision led to the discovery of four species so far not described for the country: Andrena lagopus (Latreille, 1809), Nomada furva (Panzer, 1798), Hoplitis papaveris (Latreille, 1799), and Sphecodes majalis (Pérez, 1903). Additionally, the presence of Nomada sexfasciata (Panzer, 1799), which inexplicably had been omitted by the most current species list, can be re-confirmed. Altogether, our findings increase the number of recorded wild bee species in Luxembourg to 346. Moreover, the results highlight the crucial role of NHCs as repositories of our knowledge of the natural world.
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spelling doaj.art-72f9fb5fdc584f50985a361d79e6b76c2022-12-21T23:34:36ZengPensoft PublishersBiodiversity Data Journal1314-28282021-05-01912010.3897/BDJ.9.e6402764027Updates to the checklist of the wild bee fauna of Luxembourg as inferred from revised natural history collection data and fieldworkFernanda Herrera Mesías0Alexander Weigand1Musée national d’histoire naturelle de LuxembourgMusée national d’histoire naturelle de LuxembourgMuseums and other institutions curating natural history collections (NHCs) are fundamental entities to many scientific disciplines, as they house data and reference material for varied research projects. As such, biological specimens preserved in NHCs represent accessible physical records of the living world's history. They provide useful information regarding the presence and distribution of different taxonomic groups through space and time. Despite the importance of museum biological specimens, their potential to answer scientific questions pertinent to the necessities of our current historical context is often under-explored.The currently known wild bee fauna of Luxembourg comprises 341 registered species distributed among 38 different genera. However, specimens stored in the archives of local NHCs represent an untapped resource to update taxonomic lists, including potentially overlooked findings relevant to the development of national conservation strategies.We re-investigated the wild bee collection of the Zoology Department of the National Museum of Natural History Luxembourg by using morphotaxonomy and DNA barcoding. The collection revision led to the discovery of four species so far not described for the country: Andrena lagopus (Latreille, 1809), Nomada furva (Panzer, 1798), Hoplitis papaveris (Latreille, 1799), and Sphecodes majalis (Pérez, 1903). Additionally, the presence of Nomada sexfasciata (Panzer, 1799), which inexplicably had been omitted by the most current species list, can be re-confirmed. Altogether, our findings increase the number of recorded wild bee species in Luxembourg to 346. Moreover, the results highlight the crucial role of NHCs as repositories of our knowledge of the natural world.https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/64027/download/pdf/biological collectionsApoideataxonomyDNA bar
spellingShingle Fernanda Herrera Mesías
Alexander Weigand
Updates to the checklist of the wild bee fauna of Luxembourg as inferred from revised natural history collection data and fieldwork
Biodiversity Data Journal
biological collections
Apoidea
taxonomy
DNA bar
title Updates to the checklist of the wild bee fauna of Luxembourg as inferred from revised natural history collection data and fieldwork
title_full Updates to the checklist of the wild bee fauna of Luxembourg as inferred from revised natural history collection data and fieldwork
title_fullStr Updates to the checklist of the wild bee fauna of Luxembourg as inferred from revised natural history collection data and fieldwork
title_full_unstemmed Updates to the checklist of the wild bee fauna of Luxembourg as inferred from revised natural history collection data and fieldwork
title_short Updates to the checklist of the wild bee fauna of Luxembourg as inferred from revised natural history collection data and fieldwork
title_sort updates to the checklist of the wild bee fauna of luxembourg as inferred from revised natural history collection data and fieldwork
topic biological collections
Apoidea
taxonomy
DNA bar
url https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/64027/download/pdf/
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