General information on the Coleoptera collection. There are over 1,000,000 beetles in the collection, housed in 1950 drawers (=18% of total pinned collection drawer-count). The Cornell beetle collection is one of the major Coleoptera collections of eastern North America. Other areas especially well represented include Central and South America, tropical Africa, and Europe. There are about 180 primary types represented, along with secondary types for about 800 species (Search Types). The greatest taxonomic strengths are perhaps the Carabidae s.l. (330 drawers), aquatic Coleoptera (84 dr.), Staphylinidae (190 dr.), Pselaphidae (20 dr.), Scarabaeidae (225 dr.), Tenebrionidae (135 dr.), Cerambycidae (142 dr.), Chrysomelidae (150 dr.), and Curculionidae s.l. (185 dr.).
Material described by Cornellians includes many types, and vouchers for groups such as Bruchidae (C.D. Johnson). An expedition to South America by Professors J.C. Bradley and W.T.M. Forbes in 1919-1920 brought back many beetles, including many new species of Pselaphidae. In 1927, collections were made in Suriname and British Guiana by Professors W.T.M. Forbes and P.P. Babiy. J.C. Bradley added African beetles during his work in the Belgian Congo in 1948-1949.
H. Dietrich added large numbers of North American beetles, especially from Mississippi, the Appalachians, and California. More recent collection development has centered on the southern Appalachians (Q.D. Wheeler and J.K. Liebherr), Puerto Rico and Trinidad (E.R. Hoebeke and Liebherr), Mexico (Liebherr), Peru (Wheeler), Hawaii (Liebherr), and adventive insects new to North America (Hoebeke).
There are a number of notable collections within the Coleoptera. The K.F. Chamberlain collection was given to the university by his widow in 1948. Chamberlain, a state entomologist in New York for many years, built a collection especially rich in northeastern species and including nearly all families, usually in large series and always superbly prepared. Over 90% of the collection was identified by Chamberlain and recognized beetle specialists. It includes 31,500 specimens, of which 30,000 are from N. Amer., north of Mexico, representing about 6000 species; the remaining 1500 specimens represent about 250 "exotic" species. There is a single type series in the collection (apparently the only known specimens of Gyrinus gehringi).
We were fortunate to acquire the collection of E.A. Klages, an exceptional private collection very rich in Neotropical beetles. This is not to be confused with the collection of Henry Klages which is located at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. The E.A. Klages collection consists of approximately 50,000 beetles of which 40,000 are fully prepared (mounted, labeled). Among these 40,000 are 2500-3000 species from North America and 2000 species from Venezuela. The collection of Cicindelidae from Venezuela is outstanding, and it includes specimens identified by Walter Horn who designated some types within it. Venezuelan Scarabaeidae is also noteworthy, and includes type material. The E. W. Mank collection was received by the university in 1945. The collection has special representation of Melandryidae. It includes about 17,000 North American specimens (representing about 5500 species) and 4000 "exotic" specimens (representing about 3800 species). Beyond the determined parts of the collection are about 4000 unidentified Nearctic Coleoptera. It includes types of Melandryidae and is also strong in Chrysomelidae.
Cornell has the W.W. Boyle collection of Erotylidae. This gift was received in 1967 from Dr. Boyle, a noted authority on the family. Dr. Boyle has identified most of the other Nearctic erotylids in the collection and has designated several types. There are a considerable number of Neotropical taxa.
