Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada

Vol. 31(1) Summer 2012

The Newsletter of the BSC is published twice a year by the In this issue Biological Survey of Canada, an incorporated not-for-profit group devoted to promoting biodiversity science in Canada, particularly Editorial...... 2 with respect to the Arthropoda. Notice of AGM...... 2 Notice of AGM: Join us for the Annual General President’s Update ...... 3 Meeting of the BSC at the Joint Meeting of the ESC and 2012 Bioblitz Report: the Entomological Society of Alberta...... 2 Joint collection trip with COSEWIC Arthropods meeting, Corner Brook, Newfoundland ...... 4 BSC Symposium at the Arctic Corner: ESC: ...... 6 Two wings over 2013 Curation Blitz at the the tundra: Higher Royal Alberta Museum ...... 6 Diptera research News about Entomology in the Northern in Canada: Dedication of the Biodiversity Program J.B. Wallis/R.E.Roughley Museum of Entomology...... 7 by Meagan S. Blair, Sabrina Rochefort, Insect Collections in Anna M. Solecki, Élodie Canada Series: The Lyman Vajda and Terry A. Entomological Museum (McGill) Wheeler...... 16 by Terry Wheeler...... 8

Arctic Corner: Two wings over the tundra: Higher Diptera research in the Northern Biodiversity Program by Meagan The Lyman S. Blair, Sabrina Rochefort, Anna M. Entomological Solecki, Élodie Vajda, and Terry A. Wheeler...... 16 Museum Terry Wheeler updates Label Challenges for the history and current Insect Collections activities of the largest Research by Meghan Marriott university collection in and Sarah Tratch...... 23 Canada...... 8 FYI & FAQ on the BSC.....24

Requests for Material..26 Notices...... 27 Call for Proposals for FYI and FAQs about the BSC: 2013 BioBlitz...... 27 BSC President Dave Langor answers questions about the Join the BSC...... 28 Biological Survey and the Biological Survey Foundation ...... 24

Visit Our website | Contact us | Previous issues Biological Survey of Canada New Address: c/o Entomological Society of Canada 393 Winston Avenue, Ottawa, ON K2A 1Y8 [email protected] 2 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada

Editorial: a major new initiative for the Biological Survey Donna Giberson

It has been over 30 years since the Entomological Society of Canada, through their Memoirs series, published Hugh Danks’ “Canada and its Insect Fauna” (1979. Mem. Ent. Soc. Can. 108. 573 pp.). My own copy of that monograph is pretty dog-eared, illustrating how often I’ve consulted it over the years. But in 30 years we’ve learned a lot more about our insect fauna, and indeed the entire fauna of Canada. There are new ways of disseminating information too, including web tools as well as print forms. I urge you to attend the BSC symposium at the annual joint meeting of the Entomological Society of Canada and the Entomological Socity of Alberta in November for an update on the status of many Canadian taxa and the launch of the new Biota of Canada initiative.

At last year’s Annual General Meetings of the Biological Survey of Canada and the Biological Survey Foundation, it was clear that there was confusion about the process for membership and board elections, and the differences between the “Survey” and the “Foundation” so our BSC president wrote a “BSC FAQs’ piece for last newsletter to try to clarify the process. This information was so useful, we’re including it in every issue, at the back of the newsletter.

Gradual changes to the Biological Survey of Canada website continue to occur, as our new Communications sub-committee works to update content and the overall look of the site. We welcome comments to help guide this process. Don’t forget to visit the blog (http://biologicalsurvey.wordpress.com/), as well as the Canadian-arthropods listserve, to comment on biodiversity issues or the BSC activities. To subscribe to the listserve or to view the archives go to http://www.mailman.srv.ualberta.ca/mailman/listinfo/canadian-arthropods

Please don’t forget to attend the Annual General Meeting of the Biological Survey in Edmonton this November (see notice below)

Questions? Please contact us at [email protected]

Notice of Annual General Meeting The 2012 AGM of the BSC will take place on November 7, 1-2 pm, Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel (Acadia Room), 10155 – 105 St., Edmonton, AB. All are welcome to attend and participate in discussions, but only members can vote Remember that receiving the newsletter does not necessarily mean that you are a mem- ber. For information on membership please see p. 28

The Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada is published twice a year (sum- mer and winter) by the Biological Survey of Canada, an incorporated not-for-profit group devoted to promoting biodiversity science in Canada, particularly with respect to the Arthropoda.

Send submissions to: Dr. Donna Giberson ([email protected]) or Dr. Doug Currie ([email protected]) Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada Department of Biology, University of Prince Edward Island 550 University Ave., Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3

Masthead image: Tricoloured Bumblebee, Bombus ternarius photographed on Lupins in PEI in 2010, D.Giberson

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Update on the Biological Survey of Canada/ Commission biologique du Canada activities David Langor, Northern Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada, Edmonton, AB

Over the last six months, the BSC Board continued to meet more-or-less monthly. Recently Donna Giberson stepped down as Secretary due to large work demands and Jade Savage agreed to take over this role. Jade can be reached at [email protected]

The BSC web site has served a major role in helping the BSC deliver on its goal of information dissemination; however, much of the content of the website is outdated and requires attention to make it current. In recent months, a large effort has been made to review the content and structure of the BSC web site. The Board is working together to parse out portions of the web site for updating. As well, decisions have been make to remove some content from the web site (Directory of Entomologists, Specimens Sought). With the coordination of Jade Savage (Secretary) and Pat Crawford (Communications Of- ficer) the content update is moving along well and will hopefully be completed within the next 6 months. In the longer term, the structure and operability of the website is slated for a major overhaul to give it a fresh look and feel.

There has been considerable discussion about whether both the BSC and Biological Survey Foundation (BSF) need to be both maintained as separate entities. Historically the BSF, a registered charity, was used to receive proceeds from the sale of BSC publications and donations, and use those proceeds for publication of new BSC products. As the BSC is also now a registered charity, it is perceived that the role of the BSF may now be trans- ferred to the BSC. Initial BSC Board deliberations indicate that there is a strong case for amalgamation of these two entities. The BSF will also consider this option in an upcom- ing meeting of its Board. If the Boards of both organizations support amalgamation, this recommendation will be brought before the membership of both organizations at the next AGM. The 2012 AGM of the BSC will take place on November 7, 1-2 pm, Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel (Acadia Room), 10155 – 105 St., Edmonton, AB.

The BSC is planning a symposium, The Biota of Canada, for the 2012 Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of Canada and Entomological Society of Alberta, November 4-7, 2012. The specific day and time of the symposium is not yet decided. The symposium will be used as a springboard to launch a new BSC initiative on the same topic.

The BSC continues to be active with information dissemination through its newslet- ter (http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/newsletters.htm), web site, blog and publications. The Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification recently released three new volumes:

- Volume 19: Cluster Flies (Calliphoridae: Polleniinae: Pollenia) of North America by Jewiss-Gaines, Marshall and Whitworth;

- Volume 20: Bees of the genus Dufourea Lepeletier (Hymenoptera: Halticidae) of Canada by Dumesh and Sheffield

- Volume 21: Siricidae (Hymenoptera: Symphyta: Siricoidea) of the Western Hemisphere by Schiff, Goulet, Smith, Boudreault, Wilson, and Scheffler.

As well, the third and final volume of the Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands book series is making good progress and when done, it will be uploaded to our website with the other volumes: http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/publications.htm

Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page 4 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada

Bioblitz 2012 on “The Rock” Held Jointly with 2012 COSEWIC Arthropods Committee workshop Donna Giberson, University of Prince Edward Island and Dave Langor, Northern Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada, Edmonton, AB

The 2012 BSC Bioblitz was held in western Newfoundland, led by Dave Langor & Greg Pohl (Natural Resources Canada, Edmonton) with help from Kevin Robertson of the NL Wildlife Division. Dave and Greg were in the area sampling for the Arthropods of New- foundland and Labrador Project (see article in BSC newsletter, Vol 30(2):6-7). The an- nual meeting of the the COSEWIC Arthropods sub-committee was held in Corner Brook this year (on July 4-5, 2012), providing the opportunity for participants to extend their time in Newfoundland and join a day of collecting. Shelley Pardy of the Newfoundland and Labrador Conservation Data Centre arranged logistic and financial support for the trip, and Kevin Robertson also joined us from the NL government. Our day started with a visit to the base of Blow-me-down Mountain with options to collect in a nearby bog or stream, or climb to the top of the mountain for views and opportunities to turn over some rocks. Shelley Pardy and her co-worker Kevin Robertson provided a fine lunch on the beach, then collecting continued. Some took the opportunity to walk a cliffside trail through bo- real forest, while others sought out another bog/fen complex to sample. We encountered our final habitat on the way home to Corner Brook... a saltmarsh and series of salt pools right along the Arm. After dinner, the keen- ers in the crowd joined Dave and Greg for some black-lighting near Marble Mountain.

Participants included (back row from left) Kevin Floate, Rob Cannings, Donna Giberson, Chris Schmidt, Greg Pohl, Jenny Heron and Gary Anweiler (front row from left) Jason Dom- broskie, Dave Langor, James Miskelly, Syd Cannings, and Robb Bennett, as well as photographer Kevin Robertson

Humber Arm and the southern part of the Bay of Islands, western Newfoundland. Corner Brook (our starting point) is shown in the lower right part of the image, and red dots mark collecting sites. Map copyright GoogleMaps

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Getting ready to head out collecting at Blow-Me-Down Mountain Site

Bog/Fen habitat located just below Blow-Me-Down Mountain Site (Blow-Me-Down Mountain shown at right)

Left: Fen from boreal forest train, above Little Port.

Below: view from Bottle Cove

Photos by D.Giberson

Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page 6 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada

Biological Survey of Canada Symposium - 2012 The Biota of Canada

The 2012 BSC symposium at the ESC (Entomological Society of Canada) meeting will launch the new Biota of Canada Project

The Biological Survey of Canada symposium at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Societies of Canada and Alberta in November will be somewhat different from past BSC symposia which tended to concentrate on arthropod biota of particular regions or habitats. This year, the Board of Directors of the BSC is hoping to use the Edmonton symposium to launch a new project that will lead to a revision and expansion of Hugh Danks’ 1979 work “Canada and Its Insect Fauna” (Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 108. 573 pages). The project also aims to develop a comprehensive, web-based inventory of the entire Canadian biota. Organizers Doug Currie and Joe Shorthouse have invited a slate of speakers whose presentations will be a starting point for this ambitious project. The symposium is entitled ‘Canada and its Biota: prospectus for a comprehensive new reference on Canadian biodiversity’ and a total of 12 speakers will be participating. The presentations will be followed by a panel discussion about the key elements that should be included in a comprehensive Biota of Canada Inventory.

Annual Curation Blitz at the Entomological Society of Canada Meeting: The 2012 Curation Blitz will be held in conjunction with the The 2012 Joint Annual Meeting between the Entomological Society of Alberta and the Entomological Society of Canada (November 4-7, 2012; Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel in Edmonton, Alberta).

The Curation Blitz will be at the Royal Alberta Museum on Monday, Nov 5, 6-9 pm

To get there: The address is 12845-102nd Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T5N 0M6. The museum is 3.2 km west of the conference venue and has plenty of free visitor parking. Some arrangements may be made on site for carpooling, and there is a good bus connection from 105th Street & Jasper Avenue to the museum (bus lines #1 and 120). It is a 12 min bus ride. For bus schedules please refer to the very helpful ETS trip planner (http://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/edmonton-transit- system-ets.aspx). You can use the name of the museum and of the hotel as end destinations, and the planner will do the rest. Since this is an after-hour event the main entrance of the museum will be closed, and blitz participants will have to come through the staff entrance on the north side of the building (towards 102nd Ave).

For more information on the Blitz, and details on how extensive the RAM holdings are in specific groups, contact Matthias Buck: [email protected]

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News about Entomology in Canada: Dedication of the J.B. Wallis/R.E. Roughley Museum of Entomology T.D. Galloway, Dept. of Entomology, Univeristy of Mantioba

On 27 March, a small informal dedication ceremony was held at the University of Mani- toba for the newly named J.B.Wallis/R.E.RoughleyMuseum of Entomology. This ceremony was very much like the last dedication for the J.B. Wallis Museum of Entomology, on 22 Sept., 1988. Both were held in the second floor hallway of the Animal Science/Entomology Build- ing, outside the Museum entry, but in 1988, Rob Roughley presided over the gathering. Rob was enthusiastic about the future of the Museum; he had big plans. Largely due to Rob’s efforts, grant support was obtained to allow development of the first bar-coded database system for an entomological collection in Canada, and for expansion of our facilities to ac- commodate growth, to where the museum collection today is among the largest in Canada. About thirty family and department members, friends, and colleagues gathered to cel- ebrate the contributions of these two outstanding entomologists, both of whom had a special interest in beetles, and especially water beetles. Terry Galloway (Associate Curator) and Barb Sharanowski (Curator) each said a few words about Rob, JB and the Museum and af- terwards, people had an opportunity to tour the facilities and appreciate the recent changes initiated by Barb Sharanowski, Gwen Band (Data Entry Technician) and Phil Snarr (Museum Technician). Carol Galloway provided the cake served in the Library, a focus for people to gather and chat about the museum. The name of the museum was officially changed to the J.B. Wallis/R.E. Roughley Museum of Entomology (WRME) in May, 2011, and was dedicated at an informal ceremony on 27 March, 2012.

These photos were copied from the hard drive of Rob Roughley’s laptop; unfortu- nately, we are unable to provide credits for them. If anyone hap- pens to know who took these photos, please contact us. The follow- ing is information that accompanies these photos in the WRME.

John Braithwaite (“JB”) Wallis Robert Edward Roughley (1950-2009) (1877-1962) “Have net will travel.” J.B. Wallis was born in England in 1877 and Rob Roughley was born in Limehouse, Ontario moved to Canada in 1893. He worked on in 1950 and graduated from the University of Manitoba farms before attending normal Guelph in 1974 with a major in Entomology. school, eventually becoming a teacher and Following his passion for taxonomy, system- assistant school superintendent in Winni- atics and biogeography, he completed his peg. He was an amateur entomologist with a M.Sc. (Guelph - 1976) and Ph.D. (Alberta - passion for beetles, and was an authority on 1983) investigating his beloved dytiscids. He tiger beetles and water beetles. He worked joined our department in 1982 and assumed in our department after his retirement, mak- curatorship of the museum, which imme- ing major contributions to the organization diately began to grow from about 50,000 and content of the insect collection. These specimens at that time, to an estimated contributions were acknowledged when 2,000,000 today. Largely due to his efforts, our collection was officially dedicated in his grant support was obtained to allow develop- honour, the J.B. Wallis Museum of Entomol- ment of the first bar-coded database system ogy (JBWM) at an informal ceremony on 22 for an entomological collection in Canada, September, 1988. and for expansion of our facilities to accom- modate growth. Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page 8 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada

Insect Collections of Canada Series Lyman Entomological Museum, McGill University

Terry A. Wheeler Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Macdonald Campus, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, H9X 3V9

Introduction

The Lyman Entomological Museum is the insect and arachnid collection of McGill University. The museum is housed at the Macdonald Campus in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC. With an estimated three million specimens, it is the largest university insect collection in the country, and is second in overall holdings only to the Canadian National Collection in Ottawa. As a university museum, the Lyman has an active role in both research and teaching. Fig. 1. The Centennial Centre, home of the History Lyman Entomological Museum (we’re in the basement). Amateur Roots (1860s-1914) The Lyman collection had its origin in the private collection of Henry H. Lyman, a Montreal businessman and Lepidopterist. Although Lyman was an “amateur”, he published extensively in the primary literature on the taxonomy and ecology of Lepidoptera and was well-known internationally. Lyman was part of an active and enthusiastic community of amateur entomologists in Montreal and Quebec in the second half of the 19th century, a group that also included William Couper (who, along with Abbé Leon Provancher, founded an entomological society in Quebec in 1862) and George J. Bowles, a well-known Montreal amateur collector. Some of the oldest specimens in the Lyman collection were collected by this group: Lyman began collecting Lepidoptera intensively in the early 1870s; there are Couper Lepidoptera from 1872 and Coleoptera from the early 1860s; the Bowles collection includes Lepidoptera and Coleoptera from the mid-1860s. Fig. 2. Henry H. Lyman.

Fig. 3. Type specimen of the Aweme Borer Fig. 4. Lyman’s Haploa (Haploa confusa). (Papaipema aweme), a noctuid moth de- This tiger moth, described by Lyman, is the scribed by H.H. Lyman and still known from emblem of the Lyman Museum. only a handful of specimens. The Aweme Borer is listed as Endangered by COSEWIC. Return to front page Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 9

The “Lyman Era” of the collection came to an abrupt and unfortunate end in May 1914 when Lyman and his wife were killed in the sinking of the liner Empress of Ireland in the lower St. Lawrence River. Upon Lyman’s death, his insect collection, associated library and an endowment fund for the continued support and growth of the collection were bequeathed to McGill University.

The Redpath Museum Years (1914-1961) Following Lyman’s death the collection was moved to the Redpath Museum on the downtown Montreal campus of McGill University. The first Curator was Albert F. Winn, who spearheaded a period of significant growth in the collection starting in 1916. Winn oversaw the acquisition of many large and significant donations, purchases and exchanges of specimens from around the world. He was particularly successful in building the collection of Coleoptera and exotic Lepidoptera, although museum accession records from 1917 until the late 1920s span most continents and all the major insect orders. During Winn’s tenure the collection grew Fig. 5. A.F. Winn in the Lyman Room at the from 20,000 specimens, mostly Lepidoptera, Redpath Museum. The large work table is housed in five wooden cabinets to a diverse still in daily use in the Lyman Museum. collection of tens of thousands of specimens from around the world.

Failing health made it difficult for Winn to carry out his duties from 1931 onwards. Two Montreal-area amateurs stepped in to take up the slack and they contributed tremendously to the growth of the collection. George A. Moore succeeded Winn as Curator and added thousands of Hemiptera to the museum holdings. A. C. Sheppard, who had been associated with the collection since 1918, added tens of thousands of Lepidoptera over a period spanning more than 60 years. By 1961 the collection had grown to 200,000 specimens.

The Vickery-Kevan Era (1961-1986) By the 1960s, the Lyman collection had outgrown its space in the Redpath Museum and a decision was made to move it to Macdonald Campus in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, at the west end of the island of Montreal. Most of McGill’s entomological teaching and research had been at Macdonald since the turn of the century, so the move was logical. D. Keith McE. Kevan, already a professor at Macdonald, and Vernon R. Vickery, newly hired as Curator of the Lyman Collection, spearheaded the rise of the Lyman Museum to international prominence as a research museum and centre for postgraduate training. Kevan and Vickery were specialists on orthopteroid insects, and that part of the collection grew exponentially over the next three decades to become one of the world’s premier collections and libraries of orthopteroid insects. Extensive collecting expeditions

Fig. 6. Keith Kevan (left) and Vic Vickery Fig. 7. Some of Lyman’s original insect (right) enjoying a break from the micro- cabinets, now gracing the front entrance of scopes. the Lyman Museum.

Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page 10 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada built up the orthopteroid holdings (along with those of other orders) and Kevan, Vickery, their students and collaborators published prolifically. During this period the Lyman Museum passed the one million specimen mark and gained a reputation as one of the best university insect collections in North America (Pechuman 1975).

The focus was not entirely on orthopteroid insects during these years, however. Vickery had a keen interest in bees and beekeeping so that part of the collection grew significantly. Graduate students in the museum (including M.J. Sharkey and A.T. Finnamore) worked on other families of Hymenoptera. Kevan was active in studies of soil arthropods along with S.B. Hill, another professor in the department, and the slide collection of mites and other microarthropods also expanded, with contributions from a number of students including V. Behan and V.G. Marshall. Kevan also had an interest in the Neuroptera, so the holdings in that group are impressive. Growth continued in the Hemiptera as well, with major contributions by amateurs and graduate students.

Diapause (1986-1995) Following the retirements of Vickery and Kevan, the museum entered an unfortunate period of its history and seemed to be under threat for much of a decade. The Curator, P. M. Sanborne, never really established a sustained research and training program (although there was major growth in the collection of Ichneumonidae), and the Directors who succeeded Kevan, although entomologists, were not physically associated with the Museum. Graduate student numbers and operating budgets declined dramatically and a somewhat “unenlightened” administration did not help. Most forward progress was maintained by V.R. Vickery, by then the Curator Emeritus, and C.C. (George) Hsiung, who succeeded Sanborne as Curator. Considerable effort by the Canadian systematic entomology community, especially the entomologists at the Canadian National Collection, was required to ensure the continued survival of the museum itself.

Diversification (1995-2012) Terry Wheeler arrived at McGill in 1995 and was appointed Director of the Lyman Museum in 1997. Stéphanie Boucher was hired as Curator in 2000 following the retirement of George Hsiung. The taxonomic focus of the museum turned toward Diptera, and an active research program in insect faunistics and ecology was launched to complement the traditional strengths in taxonomy and systematics. This new focus on ecology was driven more by the interests of incoming grad students than by a conscious decision on the part of museum staff, but it was a move that helped increase the diversity, student numbers and uniqueness of the Lyman Museum.

The ecological strength of the Museum was enhanced in 2002 when Chris Buddle was hired as an Assistant Professor in Forest Entomology in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences. Buddle and his students have made extensive use of the museum facilities and collaborate regularly with Wheeler and Boucher. Buddle’s students have worked primarily on Coleoptera and arachnids, and recent growth in those components of the collection has been significant.

Another collaboration in Coleoptera, with Robert Anderson of the Canadian Museum of Nature, has been responsible for several graduate students co-supervised with Wheeler, and two postdoctoral fellows (Patrice Bouchard, a former M.Sc. student with Wheeler, and Andrew B.T. Smith) associated with the museum.

There has also been a recent resurgence of activity in the Hymenoptera, with postdoctoral fellow Laura Timms working on ecology and diversity of arctic Ichneumonidae.

Holdings and Collection Management

Although many university insect collections tend to be regional in geographic scope, and focused on a subset of orders, the tradition of broad representation started by A.F. Winn has led to very comprehensive coverage in the Lyman Museum holdings. Some major expeditions to Africa (the McGill University Congo Expedition in the 1940s and Lyman Museum efforts in Burkina Faso in the 1980s) were responsible for a surprisingly good collection of Afrotropical Lepidoptera, and the Burkina Faso expeditions collected widely across orders.

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Fig. 8. Part of the main collection room: Fig. 9. Part of the main collection room: Orthopteroid, Coleoptera and Lepidoptera rows. Hemiptera and Hymenoptera rows.

Since 1995, increases in the number of large-scale biodiversity inventories and ecological projects have provided excellent opportunities to expand the collection. Major collecting efforts in Australia (2002, 2004) and Costa Rica (2002, 2003) boosted our holdings from those regions, and almost annual expeditions throughout North America have built up the Nearctic collection. Exchanges of trap residues have also been an excellent source of material in recent years, especially in Diptera. Arctic arthropods have been the fastest-growing part of the collection since the launch of the Northern Biodiversity Program (NBP) in 2010 (Buddle 2009, Schaefer 2011). The bulk of terrestrial arthropods collected by NBP personnel in the Wheeler and Buddle labs are deposited in the Lyman Museum; this new source of material has already accounted for tens of thousands of curated specimens, with thousands more still to be processed. We will continue northern work for at least the next five years, so we anticipate continued growth in the arctic collection, which will complement historical collections from the 1947-1962 Northern Insect Survey housed in the Canadian National Collection of Insects in Ottawa (Lonsdale and Huber 2011)

In the last 2-3 years, Diptera have become the biggest component of the pinned collection (not surprisingly), with more than 300,000 pinned specimens inventoried, more than 200,000 of which have been databased at the specimen level. In addition, almost 100,000 Diptera have been prepared to date from the Northern Biodiversity Program, with more to come. The Diptera collection continues to grow at a rate of tens of thousands of specimens per year.

Given the amateur roots of the collection, it is not surprising that the Lepidoptera and Coleoptera holdings are extensive, with approximately 250,000 pinned specimens in each order. The orthopteroid holdings are smaller, just over 200,000 specimens, but represent one of the best collections of this group in the world. The Hymenoptera and Hemiptera collections both number approximately 150,000 specimens. The Neuropteroids have not been databased at the specimen level but comprise approximately 60 drawers of pinned material, plus a large collection in alcohol. The Odonata also occupy about 60 drawers of specimens on pins and in envelopes and we have recently begun curation on another collection of several hundred Odonata in envelopes in preparation for incorporating that material into the main collection. Holdings of other orders in the pinned collection are much smaller.

Within the major orders, some families are particularly dominant, again reflecting research interests of past and present staff and students. In the pinned collection, the largest families, in terms of specimen holdings, are Acrididae (83,000), Chloropidae (75,000 and counting), Miridae (51,000), Ichneumonidae (45,000), Carabidae (42,000) and Noctuidae (30,000).

The collection of slide-mounted specimens is enormous, thanks largely to several years of research on soil microarthropods, plus a long-standing interest in ectoparasites from the early years of entomology at Macdonald Campus. Some parts of the mite collection are well-curated but other slide-mounted material is in serious need of remounting,

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Fig. 10. A well-curated part of the slide Fig. 11. A considerably less well-curated collection. part of the slide collection. labeling, identification and/or curation. We have not embarked on an inventory of the slide-mounted collection in recent years because the prospect is terrifying.

The fluid collection is not large, mostly because there has been little effort vero the years to build the collection of aquatic insects, which make up the bulk of most wet collections. The excellent aquatic insect collection of the Ouellet-Robert Collection at the Université de Montréal has made duplication of holdings in those groups a low priority for Lyman Museum staff and students. Most of the material in the fluid collection is immature stages, especially of Orthoptera, with a smattering from other orders. As with the slide collection, the inventory and curatorial state of the fluid collection is rudimentary at present.

One component of the fluid collection that has received a lot of attention in recent years is the spider collection, which has grown exponentially thanks to the efforts of Chris Buddle and his students. This collection is well-curated and well-housed in new vial racks in a metal cabinet. Fig. 12. An ever-expanding, and beautifully organized, spider collection. One of the major challenges in managing a large collection is the cost, in time, expertise and money, to database those collection holdings. Many museum collections have databased or digitized only a small fraction of their holdings, and the Lyman Museum is no exception. The primary types were catalogued in the 1970s but that catalog existed only in printed form and is now outdated. A new effort to digitize and database our primary types across all orders is now underway. Once completed, the type collection, including images, will be accessible on-line. Our Canadian butterflies (approximately 10,000 records) were databased in the late 1990s as part of the Butterflies of Canada project. There was no further movement on databasing the holdings until the advent of the Canadensys network (www.canadensys. net) in 2008, which allowed the Museum to appoint Amélie Grégoire Taillefer as database coordinator for three years, with a mandate to curate and database the majority of the pinned Diptera collection (more than 200,000 specimens databased Fig. 13. Some primary types of Orthoptera await- to date). These data, along with some ing unit tray labels, digitizing and databasing.

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additional, project-driven databases on other orders, will be made available on-line via the Canadensys portal. Terrestrial arthropod specimens collected in the course of the Northern Biodiversity Program will also be databased at the specimen-level and their primary data published to Canadensys.

The Lyman Museum has maintained its historical ties with the amateur community, and the collection has continued to benefit from the rich tradition of amateur entomology in Quebec through annual donations, especially of Coleoptera, from some very active collaborators. Amateur entomologists also provide valuable curation in some parts of the collection. A recent example is an ongoing effort by Jean-Francois Roch to curate our large Hemiptera collection.

Current Research

Research in insect collections is traditionally focused on taxonomy, and this discipline is at the core of current research in the Lyman Museum. Terry Wheeler and Stéphanie Boucher have active research programs in the systematics of the fly families Chloropidae and Agromyzidae, respectively, and several undergraduate and graduate students in recent years have worked on the taxonomy of other Diptera families including Muscidae (Jade Savage), Dolichopodidae (Scott Brooks), Sarcophagidae (Marjolaine Giroux), Mycetophilidae (Chris Borkent), Platypezidae (Heather Cumming), Chloropidae (Julia Mlynarek, Jessica Forrest, Anna Solecki, Christine Barrie) and assorted other families of acalyptrate flies.

Species diversity is, of course, only one level of biodiversity and research programs in the museum have expanded beyond this level, to ecological and community-level diversity on one hand, and to genetic diversity on the other.

Faunistic studies and inventories are a logical outgrowth of taxonomic work, and have become an increasingly important research focus in studies of conservation and habitat change. Inventories generate critical baseline data necessary to document change in habitats, especially in response to human activities. Several graduate student projects in recent years have conducted faunal inventories in a variety of special habitats in Canada including alvars (Patrice Bouchard), xeric northern grasslands (Stéphanie Boucher), old- growth deciduous forests (Eleanor Fast, Rebecca Zeran) and wetlands (Fred Beaulieu).

Faunal inventories facilitate research on more hypothesis-driven questions in community ecology, and recent and ongoing projects have focused on patterns of diversity in old- growth deciduous forests (Valérie Lévesque-Beaudin, Duncan Selby), alpine meadows (Alyssa MacLeod), restored peatlands (Amélie Grégoire Taillefer), urban green spaces (Christine Barrie) and arctic tundra (Laura Timms). Several projects currently underway as part of the Northern Biodiversity Program are addressing patterns of community structure in northern Diptera (see the Arctic Corner in this issue for an outline of this research).

Although there has not been a tradition of genetic work in the Lyman Museum, and we are not currently equipped with a molecular lab, we have recently launched collaborations with other labs and researchers to facilitate DNA work in systematics and ecology. Several Lyman staff and students are involved with the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario’s large project on DNA barcoding the Diptera of Churchill, Manitoba – a project that dovetails nicely with ongoing genetic work in the Northern Biodiversity Program. Grad student Anna Solecki is studying phylogeography and population genetics of higher Diptera in glacial refugia as part of the NBP. Grad student Katie Sim, co-supervised with Chris Buddle and working primarily in Chris’s lab, is studying population genetics of arctic wolf spiders. Other ecological projects underway in the lab will also make use of genetic sequence data to unravel fine-scale patterns of community structure. And, of course, DNA sequence data will provide additional characters to test phylogenetic and taxonomic hypotheses in some occasionally frustrating fly families.

A Teaching Museum

An association with a university department is a major advantage for an insect collection, because of the access to enthusiastic and motivated students. Students have played major roles in the collection since the early days. Graduate students E.G.

Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page 14 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada

Munroe (Lepidoptera), C.H. Curran and G.E. Shewell (Diptera) used and contributed to the collection starting in the 1930s, and significant growth in many orders, especially Orthoptera, Hymenoptera, Acari and Diptera, was the direct result of student projects from the 1960s to the 1980s. Since the mid-1990s the focus has shifted to Diptera (and, to a lesser extent, Coleoptera) and undergraduate and graduate students have been responsible for the great majority of new material added to the Diptera collection. Several past and present graduate students in the museum first joined the research group as undergraduate volunteers or summer students who apparently enjoyed the place enough to want to stick around.

The explicit connection between taxonomy and ecology is a strength of the training program in the Lyman Museum, with most students receiving training in both disciplines. The most tangible evidence of this interdisciplinary atmosphere is that several Lyman graduate students in ecology have gone on to careers in arthropod taxonomy (e.g., Patrice Bouchard, Stéphanie Boucher, Fred Beaulieu), and some students who started their research careers in taxonomy are now conducting research in community ecology (e.g., Julia Mlynarek, Jessica Forrest, Anna Solecki, Christine Barrie)

Our collection and facilities are used extensively by students in other research labs. In the past year, for example, grad students from at least four research labs outside than the Lyman group have spent significant amounts of time working in the collection. Other students and researchers visit for shorter periods of time.

The collection is also used in undergraduate course work. Stéphanie Boucher’s Insect Biology course includes a large lab component based on material in the collection. Multiple other undergraduate, graduate and diploma courses include visits to the museum to learn about the collection. The great advantage of this is that a broad cross-section of students, both within and beyond entomology, gain an appreciation of the importance of natural history collections in biology.

Fig. 14. Front entry hall and graduate Fig. 15. Museum classroom and part of the student offices. taxonomic library.

Outreach and Public Education

The Lyman Museum has an active public education program with several hundred children visiting the museum each summer. We maintain a display collection of pinned insects and live insect cultures for tours. Stéphanie Boucher regularly visits schools and public libraries with a travelling exhibition from the museum. We also have a fairly regular media presence in the local media (French and English), especially, it seems, during mosquito season, ant season and emerald ash borer season. Fig. 16. Some of the display drawers used in the public education program.

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The museum has recently embraced social media. Our on-line presence is primarily focused on the Lyman Entomological Museum blog (lymanmuseum.wordpress.com), which provides updates on current research, field work, new publications, museum happenings and assorted ruminations on science and nature. A second museum blog devoted to insect poetry (yes, insect poetry) (3linesabout6legs.wordpress.com) carries on a longstanding museum tradition of dabbling in cultural entomology.

References and Historical Sources

Buddle, C. 2009. Bylot Island and the Northern Biodiversity Program: Ongoing studies about arctic entomology and arachnology. Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 28(1): 63-65.

Comeau, N.-M. 1965. A glance at the history of entomology and entomological collections in Quebec. Annals of the Entomological Society of Quebec 10: 85-90.

Kevan, D. K. McE. 1984. The Lyman Entomological Museum and Research Laboratory of McGill University. Bulletin of the Canadian Society of Zoologists 15: 4-6.

Lonsdale, O. and J.T. Huber. 2011. Insect collections of Canada series: Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids & Nematodes, Ottawa. Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 30(2): 15-40.

Pechuman, L.L. 1975. University collections. Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America 21: 91-93.

Schaefer, P. 2011. Update on the biting fly component (Diptera: Simuliidae, Culicidae and Tabanidae) of the Northern Biodiversity Program. Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 30 (2): 41-49.

Vickery, V.R. and G.A. Moore. 1964. The Lyman Entomological Museum, 1914-1964. Canadian Entomologist 96: 1489-1494.

All photos are by T.A. Wheeler ex- cept Fig 2,5, & 6. (Lyman Museum Archives)

Fig. 17. The fun part of collection development: Sabrina Rochefort in the field, Dunvegan, Alberta

Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page 16 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada Arctic Corner News about studies of arctic insects Two wings over the tundra: Higher Diptera research in the Northern Biodiversity Program Meagan S. Blair, Sabrina Rochefort, Anna M. Solecki, Élodie Vajda and Terry A. Wheeler Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Macdonald Campus, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, H9X 3V9 Introduction

To a reasonable approximation, every arctic insect is a fly. Although some of the insect groups that are hyperdiverse in the tropics barely hang on at high latitudes, Diptera enjoy an increasing dominance above tree line that makes them key players in virtually every terrestrial and freshwater food web in the north. Some fly families reach their highest species diversity in the arctic, while low species richness in other families is more than compensated by incredible biomass.

The Northern Biodiversity Program (NBP: www.northernbiodiversity.com) is a NSERC- supported research program that studies ecological patterns and changes in northern arthropods in response to a changing climate. Recent installments of the Arctic Corner have summarized some of the fieldwork and preliminary results from the NBP (Giberson and Shorthouse 2011, Schaefer 2011); in this article we introduce some of our ongoing research on higher Diptera.

Flies are one of the key target taxa in the NBP because of their dominance, diversity and the pivotal roles they play in most arctic ecosystem functions (predation, decomposition, pollination, herbivory, food web dynamics and more) (Danks 1981, Elberling and Olesen 1999). Our research questions span levels of biodiversity from genes to communities and connect multiple disciplines including taxonomy, phylogeography and community ecology. Our projects also encompass multiple families of Diptera throughout the Brachycera (the higher flies).

Study Sites and Methods

The core study sites in the NBP include four sites in the northern boreal ecozone (Goose Bay, NL; Moosonee, ON; Yellowknife, NT; Norman Wells, NT), four in the subarctic (Schef- ferville, QC; Churchill, MB; Kugluktuk, NU; Tombstone Mountains, YT), and four in the high arctic (Iqaluit, NU; Lake Hazen, NU; Cambridge Bay, NU, northern Banks Island, NT). All of these sites (or nearby locations) were previously sampled by the 1947-1962 Northern In- sect Survey (NIS), which amassed an enormous amount of data on north- ern arthropods (Lonsdale and Huber 2011). We are also sampling, on a smaller scale, at some other northern locali- ties in the context of some specific projects within the NBP.

Fig. 1. Northern Biodiversity Program sampling sites. Boreal (green), subarctic (dark blue) and high arctic (pale blue) sites superimposed on NIS sampling sites (red).

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At each of the core study sites we car- ried out standardized sampling in 2010 (eastern sites) and 2011 (western sites) using Malaise traps, yellow pans, pitfall traps and sweeping. Sampling grids were established in each of three wet plots and three mesic plots at each study site and each site was sampled for approximately two weeks during the summer peak of arthropod activity. The advantages of a standardized sampling protocol are that quantitative data can be compared across all sites in the study, future studies can replicate the sampling design to allow comparison across time, and observed di- versity at a site is less biased by the taxo- nomic focus or experience of the collector. Sampling in the Northern Insect Survey Fig. 2. Malaise trap on the tundra. Aulavik National Park, Banks Island (photo by T. Wheeler) was not standardized so we are limited in the extent to which quantitative comparisons can be made between NBP data and NIS data. That is not to say we cannot do some very interesting comparisons across time.

We extracted all higher Diptera from trap residues for mounting – not an insignificant amount of work, given the sheer biomass of flies in the north. Anna Solecki and Meagan Blair put in countless hours in the sorting room starting in 2010 and Sabrina Rochefort and Élodie Vajda dove in, first as student volunteers and then as summer technicians, to help process the 2011 samples. Adult biting flies were separated and sent to Doug Currie and Patrick Schaefer at the University of Toronto. Most nematocerous flies were subsampled (except the ridiculously abundant and ridiculously delicate adult Chirono- midae, whose broken and battered body parts were left in the residues). Malaise traps and yellow pan traps were by far the most effective methods for collecting higher Diptera so our ef- forts so far have been focused on those samples. To date, we have pinned, labeled and sorted al- most 100 drawers of Diptera from NBP material and much remains to be processed. After pinned material is sorted to family, it is handed off to Fig. 3. Into the net. Terry Wheeler the appropriate student or students for species- aspirating specimens in the Tombstone level or morphospecies-level sorting (except a Mountains (photo by A. Solecki) few intractable families, such as Phoridae, that may just prove too much to handle).

Taxonomy, Inventories and Species Diversity

Good taxonomy is a foundation of good ecology so we strive, wherever possible, to de- termine specimens to named species. In some genera for which reliable keys do not ex- ist, or in which many species are undescribed, we sort to morphospecies, which provides sufficient resolution for most of our ecological questions. Although taxonomic revisions and species descriptions are not a primary objective of the NBP, it is inevitable that when a group of highly-motivated taxonomists and apprentice taxonomists get their hands on mystery specimens, something is bound to get revised. New species descriptions based on NBP material will also provide additional taxonomic resolution for future studies of northern Diptera, as well as facilitating comparison of diversity across multiple studies. Accordingly, we already have some side projects in progress on the taxonomy of some of our target families.

Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page 18 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada

Fig. 4. Rhamphomyia (Em- Fig. 5. Calyptrate flies, espe- Fig. 6. Crane flies (Tipulidae) making pididae). The dominant genus cially Muscidae, Anthomyiidae more crane flies. Not one of the NBP of higher flies at many of our and Scathophagidae, are target groups, but difficult to ignore northern sites (photo by C. Ernst) common flower visitors at the these large and abundant flies (photo arctic sites (photo by C. Ernst) by C. Ernst)

Documenting change over time in northern arthropod communities is a primary objective of the NBP. Of course, we cannot assess how much things have changed if we do not know our starting point. Species inventories provide the baseline from which to monitor ongoing and future change in the north. Although our overall sorting across all the higher Diptera will provide a badly needed inventory of northern Diptera diversity, some specific projects will delve more deeply into particular families.

Overall Patterns of Diversity Although Diptera are very abundant in all NBP samples, a few families are particularly dominant in material processed to date. Muscidae, Empididae, Phoridae, Dolichopodidae and Anthomyiidae currently occupy the greatest number of drawers and we are quickly be- coming much more familiar with the generic keys in all these families (except Phoridae, for now). Some other families, although not as abundant, are clearly species-rich. Examples include Chloropidae, Agromyzidae, Piophilidae and Scathophagidae, all of which are prov- ing to have high species-to-specimen ratios. We are finding distinct differences in diversity within families in Malaise samples versus yellow pan traps versus sweeping. This should come as no surprise to any experienced collector, but it does underline the importance of using multiple sampling methods in inventory projects.

Taxonomy and diversity of northern Chloropidae Terry Wheeler has been involved for some time in documenting the diversity of arctic Chloropidae, but that effort has accelerated in the past two years, partly through an influx of new material from the NBP, but also through involvement, in collaboration with Anna Solecki and colleagues at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, on describing the Chloropi- dae of Churchill, MB. There are many more Chloropidae in the north than we thought, including several new species (and some genera previously only recorded from temperate localities much farther south). Chloropidae are also one of the more diverse acalyptrate families (along with Agromyzidae, Piophilidae and a few others) at other NBP sites so we anticipate more new species and records as the material is processed.

Diversity of Scathophagidae An inventory of Scathophagidae is a starting point for several ecological questions that Meagan Blair will address in her M.Sc. thesis. Scathophagidae are a key group for invento- ry work in the arctic because they reach their highest diversity in the arctic; this is unusual among the calyptrate flies. Meagan has found high generic and species diversity from the NBP sites and some clear differences are already emerging from site to site. Another ap- pealing characteristic of scathophagids is that they were a favorite group of Dick Vocker- oth, a renowned Diptera collector who participated in many of the Northern Insect Survey expeditions.

Taxonomy and inventory of Piophilidae Like Scathophagidae, the acalyptrate family Piophilidae remains diverse at higher lati- tudes and is one of the dominant families of higher flies in the high arctic. As such, they are an excellent study group for taxonomic and ecological work in the north. Sabrina Rochefort has identified 11 genera of Piophilidae, based on McAlpine’s (1977) classification

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(which splits genera more than later authors do): Actenoptera, Amphipogon, Arctopio- phila, Boreopiophila, Lasiopiophila, Liopiophila, Mycetaulus, Neopiophila, Parapiophila, Prochyliza and Protopiophila. Parapiophila is the most abundant and species-rich to date. Species-level differences in this genus are based on a combination of colour characters and male genitalia and undescribed species have already been identified inParapiophila as well as other genera. This taxonomic and inventory work on Piophilidae will facilitate some ecological questions on spatial distribution in the family.

Taxonomic and ecological diversity of Empididae Élodie Vajda tackled the abundant “Empididae” (sensu Manual of Nearctic Diptera) by initially sorting them to genus and subsequently to morphospecies (or named species if recent keys exist). There are several genera, some of which are both abundant and species-rich. The most dominant by far is Rhamphomyia; to date, at least 20 male and 22 female morphospecies have been identified from a subset of the NBP sites. Some of the morphospecies appear to correspond to described species, but confirmation of their identity, along with matching males with females, will require some time in the excel- lent empidoid collection of the CNC in Ottawa. Morphospecies sorting so far has been based mainly on overall habitus, chaetotaxy, secondary sexual modifications in the leg and wing, thorax colour and pattern, and male genitalia. As more samples are sorted, the abundance and diversity of Rhamphomyia species in the Arctic is becoming increas- ingly striking. For example, Rhamphomyia specimens comprised 80-90% of the Dip- tera volume in Malaise trap samples in Aulavik National Park on Banks Island. This has generated some intriguing questions: Why is Rhamphomyia so abundant and diverse in the North compared to other genera of similar size and ecological role? And how do the many species of Rhamphomyia, often collected in the same series, divide up the avail- able resources, especially in the high arctic?

Genetic Diversity

Many arctic species are geographically widespread. These broad distributions, how- ever, can mask high genetic diversity at finer geographic scales. This genetic diversity across populations is often a legacy of the history of isolation and dispersal within each species. By delving into the population genetics of arctic Diptera, we may be able to resolve spatial and temporal patterns of change at smaller scales.

Anna Solecki’s M.Sc. project focuses primarily on this theme of the NBP, with a study of phylogeographic patterns of selected acalyptrate and calyptrate flies, especially in our northwestern sampling sites. More details on Anna’s project are in the section on Community Patterns in Time, below.

Another component of our genetic work is linked with the ongoing efforts of the Ca- nadian Centre for DNA Barcoding to docu- ment species diversity in the north. Terry Wheeler has been involved with the large Diptera of Churchill project coordinated by Fig. 7. The real work begins. Anna Solecki sorting the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, espe- samples in Norman Wells (photo by K. Sim) cially in documenting the diversity (based on both DNA barcodes and morphology) of acalyptrate flies at Churchill. We will also be contributing DNA barcode data from NBP Diptera species collected at NBP sites to the Barcode of Life Database.

Community Patterns in Space

Our study sites span three major ecozones: boreal forest, subarctic and arctic, as well as 30 degrees of latitude and 78 degrees of longitude. Sampling on this broad geo- graphic scale provides an excellent (and rare) opportunity to assess patterns of Diptera community structure at multiple scales. The geographic distribution of our core study

Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page 20 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada sites will also allow us to compare Diptera diversity in northern sites that have been more subject to recent human impact (e.g., Churchill, Yellowknife, Iqaluit) versus sites that remain relatively undeveloped (e.g., Tombstone Mountains, Banks Island, Lake Hazen).

Overall patterns of community structure in northern Diptera All of the NBP dipterists, as well as outside collaborators, will contribute to an analysis of patterns of community structure in space, from south to north along a latitudinal gradi- ent, and from west to east, from Beringia to the most recently deglaciated regions east of Hudson Bay. Incorporating multiple families will give us a powerful dataset with which to assess changes in species composition from site to site.

Spatial patterns of community structure in target families Meagan Blair will focus on a more detailed analysis of the diverse and abundant Scathophagidae and Sabrina Rochefort will perform a similar study on the smaller, but equally northern, Piophilidae to see if a group of small-sized, saprophagous acalyptrate flies show similar patterns to the larger and more ecologically diverse Scathophagidae. These two families are ideally suited to a focused analysis because they are among the few that are identifiable to the species level, available in reasonable numbers, and still species rich in the arctic.

Community Patterns in Time

We are studying temporal changes in Diptera communities on three time scales: millen- nia; decades; and weeks.

Ten thousand years of change Anna Solecki is using phylogeographic analysis at the molecular level to assess genetic diversity in selected species of higher Diptera in Pleistocene glacial refugia that are well- supported (Beringia), or still contentious (Banks Island). Genetic evidence of a selected set of species may help shed light on whether the Banks Island populations are geneti- cally distinct from populations in mainland Beringia, or from populations in previously glaciated parts of the arctic. Anna is also exploring, at the population genetic level, the postglacial history and possible origins of some Diptera in one of the Yukon’s most unique habitats – grassland communities on warm, dry south-facing slopes. We have previously done Diptera work in these grasslands (Boucher 1998, Boucher and Wheeler 2001) and that work raised some intriguing questions as to whether the characteristic fly fauna of this habitat shows northern (Beringian) or southern (prairie) affinities. Species-level identification does not provide sufficient resolution to answer these questions, so Anna is delving into the population structure of selected species in this habitat to reconstruct their postglacial history.

Fifty years of change We are fortunate to have access to the extensive Diptera holdings of the Northern Insect Survey housed in the Canadian National Collection. We databased more than 10,000 NIS specimens during the summer of 2011 which we can now compare to our NBP data to assess changes in selected Diptera families in the same localities since the 1950s. This comparison is another component of Meagan Blair’s M.Sc. thesis. Meagan is taking advantage of the fact that scathophagid specialist Dick Vockeroth was a partici- pant in NIS expeditions. As a result of Dick’s legendary collecting skills, and interest in scathophagids, there is a large and well-curated collection of NIS material that will fa- cilitate Meagan’s comparisons between NIS and NBP collections at the same sites. Some changes in the most abundant species at some sites are already showing up in prelimi- nary analyses.

The extent to which insect communities have changed in the 50 years since the NIS is not at all clear. Fernandez-Triana et al. (2011) found significant change in braconid wasp communities at Churchill, MB, but Renaud et al. (2012) found very little change in muscid flies at the same location over the same time frame. Some recent work led by Laura Timms, a postdoctoral fellow in our lab, suggests that the ichneumonid wasp com- munity on Ellesmere Island has also changed relatively little over 50 years. Clearly, insect responses to climate change on a 50-year scale are complex and will require more data sets from more localities. Our work on a range of Diptera families, across multiple sites, will hopefully help to clarify the patterns.

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Eight weeks of change Change in communities happens even on very fine scales. We are taking advantage of a season-long dataset of insects collected at Kugluktuk, NU in 2010 by NBP Ph.D. student Crystal Ernst to assess patterns of seasonal activity and diversity in higher flies throughout most of the arctic summer. This project, which involves all five authors of this article, plus our colleague Amélie Grégoire Taillefer, is nearing completion and preliminary patterns are intriguing. It appears that northern flies live their lives in the fast lane. Stay tuned for the full story.

The Future

Although we are still in the early stages of many of our analyses, some patterns are already becoming evident:

1. Even close to tree line at sites such as Moosonee and Yellowknife, there appears to be a typical boreal fly fauna; this is especially evident in the acalyptrate flies, where family diversity is much higher than the subarctic sites.

2. Published baseline data on the arctic diversity of most higher fly families is woefully incomplete. We are finding many more families, genera and species at many of our northern sites than a perusal of the literature would predict (Lesson: take “baseline data” with a grain of salt!).

3. The Tombstone Mountains have a rich fauna, but the Beringian history of this area is likely only part of the explanation. The close proximity of forest and tundra, as well as high habitat heterogeneity are certainly factors as well.

4. The Thomsen River Valley on Banks Island is an arctic oasis of diversity, especially for empidids. We were shocked at both the abundance and species richness of flies at this “high arctic” site. Latitude clearly does not tell the whole story.

5. There have been changes in the Diptera fauna at some of our sites in the past 50-60 years, although the extent of, and causes of, these changes will require some careful analyses.

6. Given their dominance at many of our sites, it is obvious that Diptera will be key to understanding terrestrial food webs, especially in the high arctic.

We will barely scratch the surface of arctic Diptera diversity in the 3-4 year lifespan of the NBP. We are into the last year of the NSERC Strategic Grant that has supported the program since its inception and there is still much to do. Thanks to continued funding from NSERC we will be continuing our work on arctic Diptera for at least another five years, and we can continue to mine the rich dataset of NBP Diptera well into the future.

Acknowledgments The Northern Biodiversity Program is Fig. 8 The To Do list . . . half of the current pile truly a team effort. We thank the other of NBP Diptera drawers, ready for generic sorting (photo by T. Wheeler) Principal Investigators Chris Buddle and Doug Currie, as well as Donna Giberson, Laura Timms, Crystal Ernst, Katie Sim, Sarah Loboda, Patrick Schaefer, Ruben Cord- ero, Jana Aker and Christine Roussel who participated in field work, lab work and many discussions through the various stages of the NBP. Major partners in the NBP include the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Biological Survey of Canada, Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding, Canadian Museum of Nature, and numerous community and government agencies and associations across the north.

Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page 22 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada

References

Boucher, S. 1998. Origins and zoogeography of flies (Insecta: Diptera) in southern Yukon grasslands. Arctic 51: 399-402.

Boucher, S. and T.A. Wheeler. 2001. Diversity of Agromyzidae (Diptera) in disjunct grasslands of the southern Yukon Territory. Canadian Entomologist 133: 593-621.

Danks, H.V. 1981. Arctic Arthropods. A review of systematics and ecology with particular reference to the North American fauna. Entomological Society of Canada, Ottawa. 608 pp.

Elberling, H. and J.M. Olesen. 1999. The structure of a high latitude plant-flower visi- tor system: the dominance of flies. Ecography 22: 314-323.

Fernandez-Triana, J., M.A. Smith, C. Boudreault, H. Goulet, P.D.N. Hebert A.C. Smith and R.E. Roughley. 2011. A poorly known high-latitude parasitoid wasp community: unexpected diversity and dramatic changes through time. PLoS ONE 6(8): e23719. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023719

Giberson, D.J. and J. D. Shorthouse. 2011. Fifty years of high arctic entomology: Ha- zen Camp on Ellesmere Island. Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 30(1): 17-37.

Lonsdale, O. and J.T. Huber. 2011. Insect collections of Canada Series. Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids & Nematodes, Ottawa. Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 30(2): 15-40.

McAlpine, J.F. 1977. A revised classification of the Piophilidae, including “Neottiophili- dae” and “Thyreophoridae” (Diptera: Schizophora). Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 109: 1-66.

Renaud, A.K., J. Savage and R.E. Roughley. 2012. Muscidae (Diptera) diversity in Churchill, Canada between two time periods: evidence for limited changes since the Canadian Northern Insect Survey. The Canadian Entomologist 144: 29-51.

Schaefer, P. 2011. Update on the biting fly component (Diptera: Simuliidae, Culicidae and Tabanidae) of the Northern Biodiversity Program. Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 30(2): 41-49.

Vockeroth, J.R. 1958. Distributional patterns of the Scatomyzinae (Diptera, Muscidae). Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of Entomology, Montreal, QC, 17 – 25 August 1956. Vol. 1: 619-625.

Fig. 9. Morning View, Banks Island (photo by T. Wheeler)

Return to front page Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 23

Other articles from “Arctic Corner” News about studies of arctic insects Long-time readers of this newsletter will recall that the Arctic Corner was created to replace Arctic Insect News, a newsletter published by the BSC from 1990 to 2000 to en- courage work on arctic invertebrates. If you found this Arctic Corner article interesting you might also want to look at the back issues of Arctic Insect News which are available on the BSC website in pdf format. Most issues included an article on a featured species, a featured locality, current research and a short historical article. Those newsletters can be found at: http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/newsletters.htm#arctic

Other Arctic corner articles can be found in each issue of this newsletter.

Label Challenges in Insect Collections Research Meghan Marriott1 and Sarah Tratch2 1. GIS Wildlife Technician, Government of Nunavut, PO Box 209, Igloolik, NU X0A 0L0 2. Dept. of Biology, University of PEI, 550 University Ave. Charlottetown, PE, C1A 4P3

We recently had the opportunity to carry out research in insect collections, for a study on lady beetles (Marriott 2012) and one on mayflies of the Mackenzie River area (Tratch 2012). Although we were impressed by the diversity of the specimens available to work with in collections, we found decoding the labels to be very challenging. This is espe- cially true for specimens from ecological studies, where code numbers are often used instead of locality information. However, even taxonomic labels can be difficult if stan- dards aren’t followed to provide dates, or if full locality information isn’t included. Here we present a few of the more challenging labels we found in our studies. The labels referring to the NWT pipeline study or to Bluefish Cr. (Yukon) were from specimen vials from the Mackenzie River Pipe- line study from 1970- 73, and deposited in the Canadian National Collection (CNC). The label consisting of just a series of numbers, and the one indicating Harrington but no prov- ince, were both from specimens deposited in the UPEI museum. Museum specimens have become very valuable resources for looking at past insect patterns, and intact and useful labels are an important part of that process. A reference that we found use- ful when carrying out our projects was the label standards brief (Wheeler et al. 2001) prepared for the Biological Survey of Canada ( http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/briefs/ brlabelstandards.htm ).

Marriott, S.M. 2012. Assessing geographic distribution and relative abundance patterns of native and non-native lady beetles (coccinellinae) from historic occurrence data. MSc Thesis, University of Prince Edward Island. Tratch, S. 2012. Historical Diversity and Ecological Patterns of Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) in the Northwest Territories, Canada using specimens from the 1971-73 Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Study Wheeler, T.A., J.T. Huber, and D.C. Currie. 2001. Label data standards for terrestrial arthropods. A brief prepared by the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods). Available from http:// www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/briefs/brlabelstandards.htm Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page 24 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada

FYI and FAQ Biological Survey of Canada/ Commission biologique du Canada Dave Langor, Northern Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada, Edmonton, AB

This section is intended to answer questions about the operations and membership of the BSC. This is of concern to the Directors as there has been considerable effort invested over the last three years to clarify and communicate these issues and seek broader in- volvement in the BSC. The purpose of this article is to pose and answer frequently asked questions concerning the BSC.

1.What is the BSC?

The BSC is grass roots network of biologists that has been in existence for almost 35 years. The BSC is a non-profit, charitable organization that is dedicated to discovering, synthesizing, and sharing knowledge about Canada’s biological diversity. The objectives of the BSC are to: 1) identify and address gaps in knowledge of Canada’s biological diversity; 2) promote the importance of fundamental taxonomic research on Canadian species, and provide access to expertise on Canadian biodiversity; and 3) promote awareness of the values and vulnerabilities of Canada’s biological diversity by inspiring, educating, and engaging Canadians.

2.How does the BSC differ from the Biological Survey Foundation (BSF)?

The BSF was created before the BSC became a charitable organization. The BSF is a charitable organization that was created to accept proceeds of sales of BSC publications and donations for BSC activities. The BSF then invests its funds for printing of new BSC publications. Currently there are separate boards of directors for the two groups, and the members of the BSF consist of the board of directors for the BSC. However, now that the BSC is a charitable organization there may be less need for the BSF. The BSC Board is currently examining the merits of folding the BSF into the BSC.

3.Who can join the BSC and what is the process?

The BSC is open to anyone who has an interest in Canadian biodiversity and wishes to contribute to the BSC mandate and objectives. This includes Canadians and non- Canadians and professional and amateur biologists. There currently is no membership fee for joining the BSC. Prospective members need only write to the Secretary of the BSC [[email protected], or see p. 28] and express interest in joining. It would also be helpful if you could explain how you wish to contribute to the BSC activities so that you can be linked quickly to members involved in those particular activities. It is expected that BSC members will become involved in ongoing or new BSC projects or other activities (e.g., communication, syntheses, research)

4.Is the BSC strictly for entomologists?

While it is true that entomology and arachnology have been the main focus of the BSC over its 35 year history, it has always been (and continues to be) the desire of the BSC to be more inclusive in terms of taxa covered. The BSC will be continuing to expand its coverage of the biota of Canada, so those interested in taxonomy and diversity of snails, slugs, nematodes, millipedes, centipedes, protozoa, plants, lichens and other groups are welcome to join the BSC and diversify our suite of activities.

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5.Why should I join the BSC?

No other organization in Canada has the mandate or the track record for survey- ing and documenting the biological diversity of Canada. While such work certainly can be (and has been) done through individual effort, partnering with others of like inter- est through the BSC network provides opportunity for increased scope of work and an opportunity to pool resources and pursue new resources through collaboration. The ongoing projects and activities of the BSC all originated as a result of discussions and planning catalyzed by the BSC. Thus, if you have interest in surveying Canada’s biodi- versity and analyzing and disseminating such information, the BSC can help by provid- ing: expertise and advice born of 35 years of experience in such work; connections to other individuals and organizations that can assist; support to publish/disseminate results; and increased profile to the work through our communication tools (web site, blog, Newsletter, etc.).

6.Does the BSC have meetings?

The Board of the BSC meets monthly by conference call and has frequent email com- munication. Thus the Board can deal quickly with new issues as they arise. Each year, during the Joint Annual Meeting (JAM) of the Entomological Society of Canada, the BSC holds its Annual General Meeting (AGM), thus providing an opportunity for members to connect and discuss important issues. As well, during each JAM the BSC hosts a sympo- sium on a topic relevant to its activities and mandate. This provides additional opportu- nity for members and non-members to interact.

7.What is the process for nominating and electing Directors and Officers?

The By-laws of the BSC allow for up to 9 Directors. The current Officer positions are President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Communications Officer. Direc- tors and Officers need not be members of the BSC, although to date most have been. Directors and Officers serve for a term of two years, and are eligible for re-election. BSC members have an opportunity to nominate and vote on Directors at every second AGM (the next elections will be at the 2013 AGM). Members do not vote for officers…they are determined by vote of the Directors at the first business meeting following the AGM.

8.How do I fit into the BSC?

If you have interest in surveying and documenting the biota of Canada and dissemi- nating such information to all Canadians, then the BSC is the place for you. The BSC has a few ongoing projects and activities (see our web site for descriptions) where you may immediately find a niche. However, the BSC is open to adding new projects and activi- ties as needs and suggestions arise. So if you have an idea for something new that fits within the BSC mandate, please come forward with your proposal so that we can have an open discussion among all BSC members.

9.Is there funding available for work?

The current fiscal resources of the BSC are limited and are largely reserved to sup- port publication of BSC products. However, the BSC does help seek funding from outside agencies to support BSC Projects. Recent examples of outside funding successes are the Northern Biodiversity Program and the Terrestrial Arthropods of Newfoundland and Labrador Project. Direct and indirect support have also been obtained to support recent Bio-blitzes and the Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification. The Board of the BSC continually explores opportunities to increase funding support to the BSC.

If you have more questions about the BSC, please send your enquiry to the BSC Secretary ([email protected]), and a Director or Officer will quickly contact you with an answer. In the meantime, please check out the web site of the BSC, which continues to be updated, and this may provide answers to your questions, or generate new questions.

Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page 26 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada

Requests for Material or Information Invited The Biological Survey of Canada Newsletter traditionally served as a forum to encourage cooperation in taxonomic and ecological studies of the arthropod fauna through publish- ing requests for material or information that might be obtained by someone elsewhere in Canada. If you have a request that you would like to see in the newsletter, please send it to: Requests should clearly indicate that Owen Lonsdale, PhD they are for the Biological Survey of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Canada Newsletter, and be made by K.W. Neatby Building, Central Experimental Farm, the end of November for the Winter 960 Carling Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C6 issue, and by the end of April for the E-mail: [email protected] Summer issue.

CANADIAN AGROMYZIDAE. Canadian specimens of the genera Liriomyza and Phyto- myza (Diptera: Agromyzidae) are welcome for ongoing revisions, particularly if these are associated with host plant rearing records. All other specimens of Agromyzidae are also welcome, as these will eventually be used for similar treatments in this series. Please contact Owen Lonsdale ([email protected]). NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR ARTHROPODS Do you have specimens of terrestrial arthropods from the province of NL in your collection? As part of the BSC project on the Terrestrial Arthropods of NL, we would like to include as many existing records as possible in our survey efforts. We are especially interested in Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, but all Classes and Orders of terrestrial arthropods are of interest. Please contact David Lan- gor, [email protected] CARABID BEETLE DATA SETS As part of a synthesis of the structure of carabid beetle assemblages in North American forests, we are looking for those who are willing to share datasets from sampling of carabids in forests (undisturbed or undisturbed by natural or man-made means). We are especially interested in data sets that include an entire season of activity. Information on assemblage composition, relative abundance of species and temporal (seasonal) patterns of change is desired. Depending on the degreee of contribu- tion and involvement in the synthesis, there is the possibility of co-authorships. Please contact David Langor, [email protected]

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Entomological Monographs

As you may have noted in the article on the Canadian National Collection of Insects in the Winter 2011 issue of this newsletter, the Entomological Society of Canada has received per- mission to publish a number of entomological monographs (including some of the popular Insects and Arachnids of Canada Series) on their website. To access these, go to: http://www.esc-sec.ca/aafcmono.php

If you prefer the monographs in bound format, these can still be obtained on a print-on- demand process though an agreement with Volumes Direct (http://www.volumesdirect. com/). Visit their website, and search for title or author.

Return to front page Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 27

Notices

Are you a member of the BSC? You may be on the mailing list to receive BSC newsletters, but may not be a member! To become a member, you must send a request for membership to the BSC Secretary, Jade Savage (see next page for instructions on becoming a member). Remember to request membership before the AGM so you are eligible to vote.

Notice: Publication of Volume II of the Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands series

Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands, Volume 2: Inhabitants of a Changing Landscape is now available for chapter by chapter download, or purchase of the complete book.

To download chapters: http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/grasslandsbook2.htm To purchase a copy, go to: http://www.volumesdirect.com/detail.aspx?ID=4764).

Call for Proposals for a 2013 Biological Survey of Canada BioBlitz A Bioblitz is a great way to start or implement a faunal inventory of a region, as can be seen by reading the report of the 2010 bioBlitz on p. 7 of Vol. 29(2), or other issues of the newsletter. If you are interested in organizing a BioBlitz for the upcoming summer, please contact Dr. Joe Shorthouse, Laurentian University ([email protected])

Recent papers in the Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification:

Adam Jewiss-Gaines, Stephen A. Marshall, Terry L. Whitworth. 2012. Cluster flies (Calliphoridae: Polleniinae: Pollenia) of North America. CJAI 19 February 15, 2012 http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ejournal/jmw_19/jmw_19.html

Sheila Dumesh, Cory S. Sheffield. 2012. Bees of the Genus Dufourea Lepeletier (Hymenoptera: Halictidae: Rophitinae) of Canada. CJAI 20 May 11, 2012 http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ejournal/ds_20/ds_20.html

Nathan M. Schiff, Henri Goulet, David R. Smith, Caroline Boudreault, A. Dan Wilson, and Brian E. Scheffler. 2012. Siricidae (Hymenoptera: Symphyta: Siricoidea) of the Western Hemisphere. CJAI 21 July 6, 2012. http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ejournal/sgsbws_21/sgsbws_21.html

Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 28

Add Your Voice: Biological Survey of Canada Blog

The BSC is looking for input into the the future and role of the BSC. The dis- cussions from the the AGM in Halifax in 2011 continue on the BSC blog, set up to provide a forum to facilitate wider community discussion. Whether or not you are a member of the BSC we would like to encourage you to visit this site and add your ideas and opinions as the BSC moves ahead in redefining itself.

. See http://biologicalsurvey.wordpress.com/

... and Don’t forget: The BSC has a listserve that acts as a convenient bulletin board for items related to surveying arthropods in Canada. If you are not already a member, think about joining it and using it.

http://www.mailman.srv.ualberta.ca/mailman/listinfo/canadian-arthropods

Wh o w e a r e : The Biological Survey of Canada is a Not-for-Profit Corporation dedicated to promoting biodiversity science in Canada - The BSC consists of an elected board of directors and hip represent- ing all areas of biodiversity science, though with a focus on Arthropods. - We produce a newsletter twice per year, and organize events such as the an- nual BSC Symposium at the Entomological Society of Canada (ESC) meeting, an annual “Curation Blitz” at the ESC meeting, and assist in organizing BioBlitz- es when possible. Anyone can receive the newsletter, by sending a request to the Secretary (address below). - Membership is free, and includes this newsletter and the right to vote at the Annual General Meeting. All members are encouraged to become actively involved in BSC projects, propose new projects, or to run for the positions on the Board of Directors. (A nominal membership fee may be charged in future to cover infrastructure costs). - The Annual General Meeting is held each fall at the annual meeting of the En- tomological Society of Canada, with the option of participating electronically as well as in person.

To Jo i n t h e BSC: Send an email to Dr. J. Savage, Secretary, BSC. [email protected]

- In the subject line, write “BSC Membership” - in the body of the message, give your full name and contact infor- mation, and a valid email address. Remember to update the BSC if you change email addresses. Please also provide some infor- mation on your background and biodiversity interests.

Volume 31(1) Summer 2012 Return to front page