As senior collection manager, I am responsible for the Orthopteroidea collection (locusts, crickets, praying mantises, stick insects, earworms, cockroaches and termites). My core responsibilities are improving the accessibility of the collection through integration, determination, and digitalization. Besides that, I am internationally active as the chair of the Workgroup Collection within CETAF (Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities). I am very interested and actively involved in the introduction of new technologies in biodiversity collections, such as image recognition and RFID chips as alternatives for the use of space.
Keywords
Orthoptera, Mantodea, Blattodea, Phasmodea, Dermaptera, Isoptera, CETAF, innovation, European collaboration
The Orthopteroideacollection
The Orthopteroidea collection of Naturalis consists of 5 collections that were brought together in 2010 after the formal establishment of Naturalis, namely those from the National Museum of Natural History (RMNH), the Zoological Museum Amsterdam (ZMA), the Laboratory of Entomology of Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and the private collections of C.J.M. Willemse and F.M.H. Willemse. The 5 sub-collections were integrated at drawer level during the setting up of the new depots with rolling cabinets in 2014 to 2015.
The collection contains a total of about 7000 species and 400,000 specimens. The focus of the collections is Europe, specifically the Netherlands and Greece, and Southeast Asia. In particular, the material collected in Southeast Asia contains many primary categories, described, amongst others, by W. de Haan (1801-1855) and C.J.M. Willemse (1888-1962). A category catalogue is not yet available but this will be realized in the coming years.
Currentsubjects
The general priorities for the entire collection, which I am involved with are, in random order:
- Processing backlogs in the determinations
- Compiling a category catalogue
- Integration at the species level
- Encouraging the use of the collection
Importantpublications
Willemse, L.P.M., Kleukers, R.M.J.C. & Ode, B. 2018. The grasshoppers of Greece. - EIS Kenniscentrum Insecten & Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden. 439 pp.
Hochkirch, A., Nieto, A., Garcia Criado, M., Calix, M., Braud, Y., Buzzetti, F.M., Chobanov, D., Ode, B., Presa Asensio, J.J., Willemse, L., Zuna-Kratky, T. et al., 2016 European Red List of Grasshoppers, Crickets and Bush-crickets. - Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. 86 pp.
Willemse, L., 2001. Guide to the pest Orthoptera of the Indo-Malayan region. - Fauna Malesiana, Field and Study Guide Series ix + 150 pp.
Kleukers, R.M.J.C., Nieukerken, E. van, Ode, B., Willemse, L. & Wingerden, W. van, 1997. De sprinkhanen en krekels van Nederland (Orthoptera). - Nederlandse Fauna 1 [with accompanying audio CD: Ode, B. De zingende sprinkhanen en krekels van de Benelux]. 416 pp.
Willemse, L. & Takken, W., 1994. Odor-induced host location in tsetse flies (Diptera: Glossinidae). - Journal of Medical Entomology 31: 775-794.
Willemse, L., 1994. Additional records of Acridoidea (Orthoptera: Caelifera) from Zambia with the description of a new genus and two new species. - Journal of African Zoology 108: 435-466.
Willemse, L., 1991. A trial of odour baited targets to control the tsetse fly, Glossina morsitans centralis (Diptera: Glossinidae) in west Zambia. - Bulletin of Entomological Research 81: 351-357.
Willemse, L., 1987. Poecilimon soulion sp. nov., a new bush-cricket from Greece (Orthoptera: Phaneropterinae). - Entomologische Berichten, Amsterdam 47: 173-177.
Willemse, L.P.M., Booij, C.J.H. & Voerman, S., 1987. New sex attractants for male Lepidoptera (Colephoridae, Gelechidae, Momphidae, Oecophoridae, and Yponomeutidae) found by field screening in the Netherlands. - Zeitschrift fur angewandte Entomologie 103: 508-515.
Willemse, L., 1985. A taxonomic revision of the new world species of Sirtenea (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Peiratinae). - Zoologische Verhandelingen 215: 3-67.
Willemse, L., 1982. A discussion of the Ehrharteae (Gramineae) with special reference to the Malesian taxa formerly included in Microlaena. - Blumea 28: 181-194.
In themedia
Guest on the Dutch radio program Vroege Vogels [Early Birds] (September 2, 2018) following the publication of the book The Grasshoppers of Greece.
