Catalogue of the Diptera type material housed in the collections of the Muséum d'histoire naturelle in Geneva, Switzerland

Abstract

Abstract A key challenge of natural history museums across the globe is to make collections accessible to researchers and the public alike. Through advances in digitization, databasing, online data curation and long-term storage, it is now possible to give access to the type material housed in museums, which represent the most precious specimens in collections. Here, we have generated a fully illustrated online catalogue of all primary and secondary Diptera types housed in the Muséum d'histoire naturelle of Geneva (MHNG). High-resolution habitus photographs of all type specimens and their labels are available on a digital repository, and an exhaustive list of this type material is provided. The MHNG collection holds 152 holotypes and 2025 paratypes with Empididae, Lauxaniidae, Sphaeroceridae and Tephritidae being the most represented families. Although the current Diptera collection is relatively recent, the ca. 150 000 specimens and associated type material are important resources for future taxonomic and systematic studies.