Aphid parasitoid collection. This material represents the result of collections and rearings by E.I. Schlinger, his associates and students, from 1956 through 1973. Most of the specimens were collected in southern California when Dr. Schlinger was at U.C. Riverside. However, this collection contains material from throughout western North America, most notably a large series collected during a trip in 1966 when a group of workers traveled through Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alberta and Montana.
Some of the specimens were swept from plants, but a large proportion were reared from aphid mummies. All material was collected with an effort to record the maximum amount of ecological data. Thus many of the parasitoids are associated with their host aphids, as well as the host plants of the aphids.
The collection is composed primarily of aphidiinines (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), but also includes a few Aphelinus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), as well as many hyperparasitoids. Other aphid-associated taxa (ie., ants, syrphid flies and other aphid predators, parasitoids that attack these predators, etc.) were often also collected at this time, but these specimens are curated under their respective orders.
All collections and rearings were identified by a lot number including the collector’s initial and date; for example, lot #E65- 8-28b was the second lot (indicated by the b) collected by Evert Schlinger on 28 Aug. 1965. Relevant ecological and association data was recorded on a series of index cards, which were numbered and ordered by this lot number. Specimens were later labeled with the locality and ecological data from these cards.
The original collection took up 20 drawers, but has now been sorted to genus or species and integrated with the other parasitic Hymenoptera in the Essig Museum Annex (Michelbacher Hymenoptera room). This material has been included in our listing of Parasitic Hymenoptera.