An overview of the Severin-McDaniel Insect Research Collection South Dakota State University Brookings, SD Paul J. Johnson, PhD. Insect Biodiversity Lab, Curator-Director SMIRC, SDSU Rita I. Velez M.Sc., Ph.D. student, Graduate Research Assistant, Collection Manager SMIRC, SDSU

SMIRC History 1886 I.H. Orcutt, M.D., Ph.D John M. Aldrich (contributor) 1892 – 1894 Thomas Albert Williams 1895 – 1903 De Alton Saunders, A.M – 1906 William Archie Wheeler, M.S Robert Matheson, B.S.A H.C. Severin no collection of insects in the college worthy of the name – 1918 – 1954 head of Dep. Entomology-Zoology – 1917 – 1943 George I. Gilbertson 1965 Edward U. Balsbaugh, Jr. curator Burrus Mc Daniel, Ph.D. (1966) curator Severin-McDaniel Insect Research Collection 1993 Paul J. Johnson, Ph.D.

SMIRC Now

SMIRC Staff Director-Curator: Paul J. Johnson, Ph.D. Collection Manager: Rita I. Velez, M.Sc. Graduate Students: – Veronica Calles Torrez – David Drons – Laura Winkler Undergraduate Students (7)

SMIRC Now 1.2 million specimens Collection of Pheletus C. Truman ($2000 by 1911) Collection of G.M. Marrone (2009 – 2010) Largest collection of insects from the Black Hills Increasing specimens per year

SMIRC Now 110 cabinets 2128 drawer maximum capacity 57 steel or wood cabinets (1930s – 1940s)

SMIRC Now IPM= Quarantine freezer + Sanitation New cabinetry, drawers and unit trays 2010 new collection room 2011 new collection manager

SMIRC in the InvertNet project Digitization of the specimens images available through Internet. – Improved pest and environmental management – Identification of unsorted specimens – Updating of nomenclature – Cleaning efforts – Data imagining

The future of the SMIRC looks positive … Update labels, unit trays and drawers Taxonomic update Digitization of the specimens - Specify6 Data imagining Increment 9000 specimens/year Voucher collection of the Northern Great Plains!

Rita I. Velez, Dr. Paul J. Johnson,