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History of the Diptera Section

The beginnings of the ZSM Diptera collection date back to the early 19th century. In 1817 Johann Baptist Spix, the first director of the ZSM, was sent on an expedition to Brazil by order of the Bavarian King. Gauromydas heros His collections are preserved in the ZSM to date. From his material Joseph Anton Maximilian Perty (1804-1884) described 24 dipteran species new to science, among them Gauromydas heros (PERTY 1833), the largest fly species on earth (picture on right).

For almost a century the Diptera material remained part of the general entomological collection under the curation of nondipterists. Particularly noteworthy is the “work” of the self taught man A. Hiendlmayr, who was put in charge of the entomological collection around 1887. He replaced the original labels in parts of the collection with his own labels “Sammlung Hiendlmayr”, rendering the respective specimens scientifically worthless.

In 1911 Erich Otto Engel, the first true dipterist at the ZSM, started to set up a separate Diptera collection. Around 1920 the collections of Josef Kriechbaumer (Bavaria) and Michael Funk (Bavaria and Triest) were added. Friedrich Hermann bequeathed to the ZSM his large collection of Asilidae with numerous types from Argentina, Chile and South Africa, as well as extensive material of the other orthorrhaphen Brachycera. In 1940 the collection of Johann Nepomuk Ertl was added as well.

During world war II parts of the the ZSM collections including the Diptera were stored at Neuegling castle. The only significant loss occured during the subsequent occupation time, when in May 1945 a wooden cabinet with parts of the Nematocera collection, including type material, was burnt.

After the war the Diptera collection remained without curation for several years, until in 1951 Friedrich Kühlhorn was employed, who was simultaneously charge of 14 other insect orders. In 1965 the ZSM Diptera collection was bestowed with its own technician, Wolfgang Schacht.

Dipterology received new impulses at the ZSM with the nomination of Ernst Josef Fittkau as director in 1976, and with the emloyment of Friedrich Reiss as head of the Diptera section after the retirement of F. Kühlhorn in 1977. At the same time a donation from the Max-Planck-Institute in Plön brought the most extensive and important chironomid collections of August Thienemann, Friedrich Lenz, and E. J. Fittkau to the ZSM.

Now the collection kept growing rapidly, particularly through material from faunistic projects in Bavaria, diploma and doctoral theses under supervision of E. J. Fittkau and F. Reiss, and collections by W. Schacht (particularly middle Europe, Turkey, southern France, Spain, Ecuador), as well as the donations of colleagues and associates of the ZSM, such as Hans Mendl (Limoniidae), Eberhard Plassmann (Mycetophiloidea), and Max Kühbandner (Stratiomyiidae) – just to name a few.

Since 2000 Marion Kotrba is head of the section Diptera. W. Schacht, who has remained in service dutifully for almost fourty years, officially retired by end of 2004, but still is very active in dipterology and at the ZSM. His position was filled again in 2005 by the new technician Bärbel Stock. Several of the former students of E. J. Fittkau and F. Reiss are still associated with the Diptera section at the ZSM, such as Martin Spies, who still has an office space in the department.

In charge of the Diptera section at the ZSM:

  • 1810-1826 J. B. v. Spix
  • ca. 1886 A. Hiendlmayr
  • 1911-1944 E. O. Engel
  • 1951-1977 F. Kühlhorn
  • 1965-2004 W. Schacht
  • 1976-1999 F. Reiss
  • since 2000 M. Kotrba
  • since 2005 B. Stock

References

Reiss, F.1992: Die Sektion Diptera der Zoologischen Staatssammlung München. - Spixiana Suppl. 17: 72-82.

Reiss, F. & W. Schacht 1983: Die Typen der von J. B. v. Spix und C. F. Ph. v. Martius gesammelten und von M. Perty beschriebenen Dipterenarten (Insecta) in der Zoologischen Staatssammlung München. - Spixiana Suppl. 9: 307-312.