Lepidoptera, better known as butterflies, is an order of winged insects that can be divided into 134 families. All of these families are represented in the Naturalis collection, which comprises approximately 4 million butterflies. This collection includes three suborders: 2 million diurnal butterflies, 1,5 million nocturnal moths, and 500,000 micro-Lepidoptera (also known as "moths").
The Netherlands
A total of 2,200 species are found in the Netherlands, of which only 60 are diurnal butterflies. Butterflies are important pollinators. Additionally, some nocturnal moths are commercially used for silk production. Certain species, such as the oak processionary moth (Thaumetopoea processionea), can be troublesome due to their venomous hairs, while others can be harmful to commercial crops.
Highlights
The Lepidoptera collection contains the largest collection of Apollo butterflies in the world, comprising about 55 species with a total amount of 100,000 specimen. This scientific research collection was partly built by Curt Eisner and Yuichi Kawasaki. In addition, Naturalis holds a large number of specimens collected by Pieter Cramer from 1775-1782, mainly from Suriname and the former Dutch East Indies, which are among the oldest in the collection. Naturalis also possesses many butterflies collected by Philipp Franz von Siebold in Japan between 1823 and 1829.
FormerDutch East Indies
Naturalis also contains an enormous colonial collection from the former Dutch East Indies, of which the collection of Jan M.G. van Groenendael forms a significant part. The collection further includes many types by luminaries such as P.C.T. Snellen, A.N. Diakonoff, W. Roepke and many others. Absolute highlights are, in addition to the thousands of unique types, the extinct Jamaican Sunset Moth (Urania sloanus) and the critically endangered largest butterfly in the world, Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae).
Who workwith this
Projects
Hidden moths: Make papillots visible in a streamlined way
Apollo butterflies full of surprises
More information
Catalogue of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic holotypes in the collection of plant fossils in the Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, Leiden by van Konijnenburg et al. (2004). NNM Technical Bulletin, 7, 1–27.
https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/214530
Special collections in Bioportal: https://bioportal.naturalis.nl/en/highlights/jongmans-collection
Special datasets in FBIF: https://www.gbif.org/dataset/ea233ece-c4fb-4fb8-bf98-f16235c4144c
