On the Species of Philonthus Stephens (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae: Staphylinini: Philonthina) in the Collections of Romanian Natural History Museums

Author(s):  
Melania Stan

Abstract 57 species of the genus Philonthus were identified in the collections of four museums of Romania: Brukenthal National Museum, “Grigore Antipa” National Museum of Natural History, Museum of Natural History of Iaşi and Museum of Oltenia, Craiova. Philonthus wuesthoffi Bernhauer, an alien species from East Palaearctic Region, is a new record for the Romanian fauna. Except for Philonthus pyrenaeus Kiesenwetter, the species treated here are in the Romanian fauna and presented with their distribution maps. An identification key for Romanian Philonthus species found in the studied collections is also provided.

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana M. O. Sombrio

Abstract This paper will explore the significance of the expeditions under- taken by Wanda Hanke (1893-1958) in South America, of the networks she established in the region, as well as of her contributions to ethnological studies, in particular her compilation of extensive data and collections. Through Hanke's experience, it is possible to elucidate aspects of the history of ethnology and that of the history of museums in Brazil, as well as to emphasize the status of female participation in these areas. Wanda Hanke spent 25 years of her life studying the indigenous groups of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay and collecting ethnological objects for natural history museums. Trained in medicine and philosophy, she began to dedicate herself to ethnological studies in her forties, and she travelled alone, an uncommon characteristic among female scientists in the 1940s, in Brazil.


2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Wiley ◽  
Sylke Frahnert ◽  
Rafaela Aguilera Román ◽  
Pascal Eckhoff

The German naturalist, Juan Cristóbal Gundlach (1810–1896), resided in Cuba for the last 57 years of his life, except for two expeditions to Puerto Rico in 1873 and 1875–1876, when he explored the southwestern, western, and northeastern regions. Gundlach made representative collections of the island's fauna, which formed the nucleus of the first natural history museum in Puerto Rico. He substantially increased the number of species known from the island, and was the first naturalist to make meticulous observations and produce detailed reports of the island's natural history. Gundlach greatly influenced other naturalists in the island, so that a period of concerted advancement in knowledge of natural history occurred in the 1870s. That development coincided with the establishment of the first higher education institutions in the island, including the first natural history museum. The natural history museums eventually closed, and only a few of their specimens were passed to other institutions, including foreign museums. None of Gundlach's and few of his contemporaries’ specimens have survived in Puerto Rico.


2005 ◽  
Vol 360 (1462) ◽  
pp. 1805-1811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Savolainen ◽  
Robyn S Cowan ◽  
Alfried P Vogler ◽  
George K Roderick ◽  
Richard Lane

An international consortium of major natural history museums, herbaria and other organizations has launched an ambitious project, the ‘Barcode of Life Initiative’, to promote a process enabling the rapid and inexpensive identification of the estimated 10 million species on Earth. DNA barcoding is a diagnostic technique in which short DNA sequence(s) can be used for species identification. The first international scientific conference on Barcoding of Life was held at the Natural History Museum in London in February 2005, and here we review the scientific challenges discussed during this conference and in previous publications. Although still controversial, the scientific benefits of DNA barcoding include: (i) enabling species identification, including any life stage or fragment, (ii) facilitating species discoveries based on cluster analyses of gene sequences (e.g. cox1 = CO1 , in animals), (iii) promoting development of handheld DNA sequencing technology that can be applied in the field for biodiversity inventories and (iv) providing insight into the diversity of life.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eirini Gkouskou ◽  
Dimitrios Koliopoulos

This study presents a tool for description and potential analysis of the educational role of the Science and Technology museum. This tool has been constructed from the point of view of formal education and it is proposed as a framework for the approach of the science/technology museum from the teachers and education administrators. More specifically, the tool is, at first, described in terms of structure, content and functionality and, afterwards, examples are provided for cases of international, national and local natural history museums (Natural History Museum in Paris, Goulandris Natural History Museum in Athens and University of Patras Zoology Museum accordingly). Finally, there is a discussion regarding the suitability of this tool to inform, instruct and train future and in-service teachers in aspects of museum education. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0720/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-361
Author(s):  
John Robert Holmes

The historicist styles and decorative schemas of natural history museums built from the 1850s to the 1930s provide a unique opportunity to study the architectural expression of scientific ideas. At the same time, the significance of individual buildings varies widely. Drawing on examples from Britain, Ireland, Canada and continental Europe, this article explores three specific problems that arise in the interpretation of the architectural language of natural history museums. Firstly, the same motifs can convey very different meanings in different places. Secondly, the same governing idea can be communicated through different architectural styles which in turn inflect the idea itself. Finally, it is often hard to reconstruct the exact roles of the different actors in creating a museum building. The most complex museums, and the most challenging and rewarding to analyse, are those with the greatest number of scientists and artists working together to create them.


Author(s):  
Caroline Drieënhuizen ◽  
Fenneke Sysling

Abstract Natural history museums have long escaped postcolonial or decolonial scrutiny; their specimens were and are usually presented as part of the natural world, containing only biological or geological information. However, their collections, like those of other museums, are rooted in colonial practices and thinking. In this article, we sketch a political and decolonial biography of ‘Java Man’, the fossilized remains of a Homo erectus specimen, housed in Naturalis, the Natural History Museum, in the Netherlands. We describe the context of Dutch colonialism and the role of indigenous knowledge and activity in the discovery of Java Man. We also follow Java Man to the Netherlands, where it became a contested specimen and part of a discussion about repatriation. This article argues that the fossils of Java Man and their meanings are products of ‘creolized’ knowledge systems produced by Empire and sites of competing national and disciplinary histories and identities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-114
Author(s):  
Kirsty Robertson

This paper considers Beneath the Surface: The Archives of Arthur Nestor, a parafictional exhibition that I curated in 2014 with 16 undergraduate students at Western University, Canada. The exhibition depicted the life of Dr. Arthur Nestor, a professor of Biology who had disappeared from London (ON) in 1975, seemingly without trace. Over the summer of 2014, some of Nestor’s files and artefacts had been discovered during university renovations, and this archive was given to students in Museum Studies to organize and catalogue. As we sorted through the files, it became clear that Dr. Nestor was something of a controversial figure, a man who became an environmental activist in Southwestern Ontario because of his belief that cryptids (lake monsters) lived in Lakes Huron and Erie, and were in need of protection from human-made pollution. As the documents in his file overlapped with our research in the wider sphere, the evidence seemed to suggest that Nestor had left London to join Dr. Roy Mackal, a University of Chicago professor of cryptozoology searching for the Loch Ness Monster. This paper weaves together the tale of Arthur Nestor and the curating of Beneath the Surface with a history of the relationship between natural history museums and cryptozoology, ultimately questioning what parafiction can do in both art galleries and museums.


Author(s):  
Arkhipova Kh. ◽  
Danylyuk K.

The main tendencies of development of communication strategies of the leading natural history museums of the world are considered. Based on the Strategy for the Development of State Natural History Museum NAS of Ukraine, the main goals, tasks and channels of communication with the main segments of the audience of the museum are developed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (Supplementum) ◽  
pp. 49-57
Author(s):  
Lucie Kodišová ◽  
Lenka Vacinová ◽  
Jiří Sejkora ◽  
Luboš Polanský

The new Treasury of the National Museum will present rare crafts-manship of precious stones and metals in connection with the natural form of these materials. The Treasury will be followed by a Numismatic Cabinet, which will introduce the history of money from Antiquity till today. The Treasury and the Numismatic Cabinet will be interconnected in a joint hall devoted to gold and silver and they will be thematically intertwined in the hallway with the presentation of production technologies. The Treasury is created in close cooperation within the National Museum – the Natural History Museum and the Historical Museum. The base line will consist of minerals from diamonds to quartz and organic matter, which will join together with goldsmiths and artisanal arts into a unique complex. The main goal of the new Numismatic Cabinet is the establishment of a numismatic exposition that will be both scholarly exact and intriguing at the same time, educating visitors of the development of payment methods from Antiquity until today in a comprehensible and attractive way. The chronological exposition will be divided into several basic thematic sequential units.


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