the entomological collection with more than 200 thousand insects

In the facilities of the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences of the University of Tarapacá there is one of the many treasures of this distinguished northern study house: the oldest entomological collection in the Arica and Parinacota Region, which has thousands of preserved insects. in perfect conditions to serve as a testimony of regional biodiversity.

The rich collection of this collection is the result of the contribution of a long list of entomologists, both national and foreign, who have carried out field work in different environments in northern Chile. Currently, this heritage treasure is kept in the Department of Environmental Resources, and continues to be enriched through the activity of researchers such as the Doctor of Biological Sciences in the area of ​​Entomology, Héctor Vargas Ortiz, who has dedicated himself to this for more than twenty years. job.

Vargas delved into the age of collection, importance and contribution to science that it means to have such specimens collected and so well preserved, as is the case of the set of bugs preserved at the UTA.

The collection

The entomological collection that the University of Tarapacá houses has, in the words of Professor Vargas, more than two hundred thousand insects, of which thousands correspond to lepidoptera, commonly known as butterflies or moths, they are insects that have three pairs of legs on the back. body and they differ from the others because their wings and body are covered by scales. And as he explained, “each of the specimens in the collection are kept in special boxes, preserved in camphor to avoid contact with other organisms that could harm their conservation.”

This collection began to be formed 60 years ago, after the birth of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences. As Professor Vargas explained, “our founder was a distinguished Chilean entomologist, Professor Raúl Cortés Peña. Like all the centers that he created or to which he belonged during his career as an academic, this unit was destined to have a collection of insects. It is notable that Professor Cortés was an internationally recognized eminence in entomological studies.”

But how is it possible to identify so many insects: the academic summarized the process by explaining that when you take an insect, whatever it may be, you must observe some structural characteristics that are key to identifying it and trying to locate it within the tree of life. The first observations are very simple and it is easy to discriminate, for example, which order the insect that one has in one’s hand at that moment belongs to. If it is a lepidopteran (a butterfly or a moth) it is easy to recognize it. After this identification, we must know what type of family it belongs to, so other structural characteristics must be observed. “Generally in lepidopterans, the wing venation pattern is used a lot. That is, the wings of insects have a structure called veins and these have particular patterns that vary between different groups. Within the lepidopteran families there are many genera and within these genera the species are included,” Vargas pointed out.

Subsequently, the entomologist added, it is necessary to think more carefully to associate the collected insect with a genus belonging to a certain family, and within the selected genus to find out if the specimen under study corresponds to a previously described species or a new one. At this level, consulting specialized literature, observing reference specimens deposited in collections and interacting with specialists is extremely important. Furthermore, molecular biology tools are increasingly useful in the identification process.

The Lepidoptera

Much of the lepidoptera collection corresponds to microlepidoptera, which are abundant in northern Chile. Historically, microlepidoptera, mainly smaller moths, have been little studied compared to diurnal butterflies. As a consequence of this, the state of knowledge of said fauna is not as consolidated as that of these butterflies, so there could hardly be complete knowledge. And insects, as the academic states, “represent an extremely diverse group of organisms present in countless environments, both natural and modified by man. They are an item that cannot be ignored in any responsible production system carried out in agricultural terms. At the same time, they are very important in the area of ​​health, since there are those that are vectors of pathogenic organisms. But at the other extreme are insects that play beneficial roles in natural environments,” the professor explained.

The expert states that the majority of lepidopterans feed on vegetables and many of them come into close relationship with these plants, and there are even some insects, micro lepidopterans, whose larvae feed on seeds of certain plants, so, “the female goes and lays the egg in the forming fruit, but at the same time it visits the flowers and transports the pollen from one plant to another, thus helping pollination,” explains the professor.

Regarding the collection, its contribution to the scientific community is important, since it contributes to a reference point for entomologists.

For example, during the process of identifying an insect, one of the most important mechanisms for this task is to compare it with material that is already identified in a well-kept collection, such as the one the university has, in which the information on the insect pricked corresponds to the individual being studied for the first time. Another contribution of a collection is to rationalize collecting efforts, that is, if someone is interested in knowing an insect fauna from a specific region or sector, having this information allows them to know how studied some insects are in certain sectors and which not.

In the specific case of microlepidoptera, the collection of the University of Tarapacá is in full growth phase, housing important reference material of recently discovered species, in addition to specimens that are in the middle of the taxonomic study phase, all of which allows them to be recognized. as a solid reference for research into the biodiversity of these small organisms in the extreme north of Chile. The academic is blunt when stating that “the important thing is to know and recognize what we have, and what relationship this has with other faunas on the continent, and to identify them well to have material, which allows the verification of results.”

The collection is located in the facilities of the Department of Environmental Resources of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the UTA. It is possible to visit it by coordinating a visit by writing to the email havargas@academicos.uta.cl.