Mikroskopische Aufnahme Arachnida

Arachnida

The arachnological collections belongs today to the type richest collections of the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Goerlitz. The extensive data on species, localities and literature are stored in a special database program and available for scientific use. Current literature references and descriptions of new species of the groups Mesostigmata, Oribatida and Actinedida are collected worldwide and will be published in the journal “ACARI – Bibliographia Acarologica”.

 

The Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz is the successor of the museum of the Natural History Society of Görlitz, which was founded by inhabitants of the city as the „Ornithological Society“ and renamed in 1823. After having received some scorpions from the Philippines in 1889, the museum acquired the first ticks from Africa in 1910. These are presently the oldest specimens in the acarological collections.

After soil-zoological research was begun in the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz by Prof Dr W. Dunger in 1959, the first mite collection (Oribatida) was founded in 1964. As of spring 1987 the arachnid collections , which were kept in different sections up to this time, were concentrated by Dr Axel Christian and all collections were technically revised. After including the Oribatida in 1989, the establishment of the section Arachnida was completed in July 1990.

The section Arachnida of the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz presently has determined material of 2830 species, including types of 413 species. The acarological collections contain 1660 species  of approximately 145,000 individuals, consisting types of 203 species. There are also more than 150,000 undetermined specimens. The collections of the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz belong to the important acarological collections in Germany.

The collection Mesostigmata, founded in 1984 by Dr Axel Christian, presently contains predominantly European species. Most of the individuals are mounted on slides. Important elements are the collections of Dr M. Hutu (Uropodina), Prof Dr G. Dosse (Gamasina) and types of Prof Dr W. Karg (Gamasina). The collection Ixodida was founded in 1995 and contains Central European species. The collection Trombidiformes currently comprises Central European species of Eupodina and the not yet revised collection of Prof Dr G. Dosse (Tetranychoidea and Raphignatoidea) with mites from Europe, Asia and Africa and also some Trombidiidae. The collection Oribatida, founded in 1964 by Dr H.-D. Engelmann and considerably enlarged by Dr T. Schwalbe (1991 to 2000), Dipl – Biol V. Hampe (2001 to 2004), Dr R. Lehmitz (2008 to 2013) and by the collections of Dr J. Starý and Prof Dr G. Weigmann, currently contains mainly European species. The mites are  mostly preserved in alcohol and glycerine. The acarological collections also contain a small number of Acaridida mites.