[International Cooperation] "Formosa Collection" Insects Find Way Home

[International Cooperation] "Formosa Collection" Insects Find Way Home (Chinese Version)

The China Post (2011/08/28) An entomological institute in Germany is increasingly sharing with Taiwanese institutes its rare collection of insects, including thousands of samples gathered in Taiwan about 100 years ago, known as the “Formosa Collection.”

The collection belonged to the late German entomologist Hans SAUTER who spent years collecting samples of Taiwan's butterfly species when he worked in Taiwan during the Japanese colonization years in the early 1900s. He later donated his collection to the Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches for preservation and research. Containing 6,000 to 7,000 samples, it may be the most comprehensive collection of Taiwan's insects.

Many species collected by SAUTER have become extinct in Taiwan, Dr. Stephan BLANK, a specialist at the institute said. Through exchange programs between the institute and Taiwan's academic institutions, some of the samples of extinct species are now on display in Taiwan.

For example, when the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung was planning the exhibition “Formosa Butterflies” in 2010, the curator asked the German institute to loan them some samples of extinct species. The institute presented a pair of purple blue Euploea phaenareta juvia and a pair of golden colored Danaus plexippus as a gift, together with 374 insect samples from the “Formosa Collection,” according to BLANK.

Taiwanese entomologists are also increasingly making good use of the collection, through exchange programs with the institute. Since 2001, specialists from the National Museum of Natural Science have visited Muncheberg for information, and German scholars have also paid visits to Taiwan to enhance cooperation.

BLANK said that he was impressed to see for himself Taiwan's biodiversity when he visited the island earlier this year. In addition to discussing cooperation projects with the museum of natural science and other academic institutes, he took time to travel to the mountains and the northeastern coast area.


Related Historical Message:
[International Exchange] Taiwan-Germany and -Russia Specimens Exchanges, National Museum of Natural Science Brings Extinct Taiwan Monarch Butterflies Back Home 2011/04/13


Further Information:
The China Post 2011/08/28



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