The Arthropod Research Collection (ARC) contains adult and immature insects, spiders, ticks, mites and other arthropods, and nematodes. It emphasizes Michigan and the Great Lakes region, but holds many specimens from other parts of the world. Most specimens are pinned or preserved in vials of alcohol. Today, the major portion of the collection consists of nearly 1.1 million pinned adults, approximately 100,000 vials of immature and adult insects, 10,000 vials of spiders and other non-insect arthropods, and 46,000 slides. Major strengths are the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (flies), Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps), spiders and Collembola (springtails)
The Collection has been built through extensive collecting by faculty, students and staff, selected purchases, and gifts of private collections. The largest private collection is the Dreisbach Collection of some 250,000 specimens of all orders, but with an emphasis on Hymenoptera, extensive Mexican holdings, and a premier collection of Pompilidae.
We are in the process of databasing our holdings, making them web-accessible, and serving them through portals such as GBIF. Our plan is to first capture species-level data (what species we have and how many). For this first stage, 22,000 names have already been databased and within the next year we will finish databasing our entire species holdings (approximately 35,000 names). The second stage will record and serve full label data for each specimen. We recently started specimen level data collection for our Michigan bark beetle holdings. Over 4,500 Michigan bark beetle specimens have already been databased and made web-accessible.
You can access the current database via the "Database" link below. Due to limitations of the Specify web interface, drop down menus are not available at this time. For now, you can view a list of families included in the database.
Holdings Overview
| Taxon | Specimens | Families | Species | Notes |
| Coleoptera | 390,000 | 129 | 13,047 | Considerable representation from Europe, South America, and elsewhere. Large holdings of material from Chile, mostly undetermined. |
| Lepidoptera | 185,000 | 64 | 8717 | Includes the Hejgaard collection of nearly 8,000 Danish moths, the Donahue collection of about 16,000 Indian butterflies, numerous Latin American specimens, 178 primary types from the Tepper collection, and other. |
| Diptera | 165,000 | 79 | 5445 | Extensive holdings of Tephritidae from the Guy Bush collection, some still undetermined. |
| Hymenoptera | 320,000 | 47 | 3463 | North American Apoidea well represented. Includes many Mexican and South American specimens from the Dreisbach Collection. |
| Hemiptera | 89,000 | 66 | 2660 | A large collection of North American Cicadellidae. |
| Orthoptera | 15,000 | 18 | 526 | |
| Other Insecta | 40,000 | 73 | 693 | |
| Collembola | 40,000 vials 27,500 slides | Currently the Snider collection, with the future accession of the Ken Christiansen collection. | ||
| Araneae | 5,500 vials | |||
| Pseudoscorpionida | 3200 vials 350 slides | |||
| Opiliones | 4000+ vials | Mostly from the Arlen Edgar collection plus literature. | ||
| Plant Nematoda | Approx.12,000 specimens on 2800 slides | |||
| Additional slide collection | 16,000 slides | |||
| Alcohol collection | 60,000 vials | Some adults, but primarily immatures. |
Type Holdings
The Type Collection consists of 188 Holotypes, 18 Lectotypes, 1 Neotype and 28 Allotypes. An additional 190 specimens have very old "Type" labels, which possibly represent unconfirmed Holotypes or Syntypes. Also included are 48 species with "Holotype" labels, but which cannot be confirmed as valid names and are suspected of being only manuscript names. Most of the latter are Dreisbach specimens from foreign countries. Our types will be web-searchable though Specify by Fall of 2008. For now, you can view our current list of type holdings here.
- Specimens for systematics research are available on loan.
- Personal visits to use the collection are encouraged and can be arranged with the Collection Manager. A microscope and workspace will be provided. Request a parking permit in advance.
Planned Acquisitions
- The Mogens Nielsen collection of butterflies and moths.
- The Eric Metzler collection of moths.
- The K.A. Christiansen Collembola Collection.