Orthopteroidea (literally translated: straight-winged insects), are grasshoppers, crickets and related groups. The Orthopteroidea collection at Naturalis includes 6 orders namely Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets), Mantodea (praying mantises), Phasmida (stick insects and leaf insects), Blattodea (cockroaches), Dermaptera (earwigs) and Isoptera (termites). The total size of the collection is 650,000 specimens which, with few exceptions, are preserved dry.
Origin
There are three geographical focuses: The Netherlands, Europe (especially Balkans and Greece) and Southeast Asia (Indonesia). The division of the sub-collections is taxonomic with only the Orthoptera s.s. having a separate collection Netherlands. The collection is built from the collections of the Rijksmuseum of Natural History (RMNH), the Zoological Museum Amsterdam (ZMA), the Laboratory of Entomology of Wageningen University (WAU) and the private collections of C.J.M. Willemse and F.M.H. Willemse, the father and grandfather of collection manager Luc Willemse. All sub-collections were integrated at drawer level during the setup of the new repositories with rolling cabinets in 2014-2015.
Highlights
Within the Orthopteroidea, Naturalis' collection of grasshoppers and walking branches, with respectively 100 and 500 primary types, are of international scientific importance. A substantial part of this type of material is the result of research carried out by two important Dutch specialists, Wilhelm de Haan (1801-1855) and C.J.M. Willemse (1888-1962).
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Keypublications
L. Willemse, J. Tilmans, N. Kotitsa, A. Trichas, K.-G. Heller, D. Chobanov & B. Odé, 2023.
A review of Eupholidoptera (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae) from Crete, Gavdos, Gavdopoula, and Andikithira.
ZooKeys 1151: 67–158
L.-S. Dey & L. Willemse, 2023.
Type catalogue of Oedipodinae (Orthoptera: Acrididae) present in Naturalis Biodiversity Center Leiden (Netherlands).
Zootaxa 5315(4): 339-348
Q.Tang, T. Bourguignon, L. Willemse, E. De Coninck & T. Evans, 2019
Global spread of the German cockroach, Blattella germanica.
Biological Invasions 21: 693-707
R.T. Cumming, S. Le Tirant, S.N. Teemsma, F.H. Hennemann, L. Willemse & T.H. Büscher, 2020
Lost lovers linked at long last: elusive female Nanophyllium mystery solved after a century of being placed in a different genus (Phasmatodea, Phylliidae).
Zookeys 969: 43-84