Auchenorrhyncha (Hemiptera) from Crete deposited at the Natural History Museum of Crete

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 2,849 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Angelova R, Gjonov I, Trichas A (2025). Auchenorrhyncha (Hemiptera) from Crete deposited at the Natural History Museum of Crete. Version 1.2. Natural History Museum of Crete. Occurrence dataset. https://cloud.gbif.org/eca/resource?r=auchenorrhyncha-from-crete-at-the-nhmc&v=1.2

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Natural History Museum of Crete. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 195ef02f-e27a-4bfd-991b-09d0b058d5f2.  Natural History Museum of Crete publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Participant Node Managers Committee.

Keywords

Occurrence; Specimen

Contacts

Geographic Coverage

Crete

Taxonomic Coverage

No Description available

Temporal Coverage

Project Data

An analysis of 2,849 specimens from over 400 localities in Crete, housed at the Natural History Museum of Crete (NHMC), revealed 93 Auchenorrhyncha species across 10 families—representing 64.14% of the island’s known fauna. Despite limitations in sampling methods, 37 species were newly recorded for Crete, 10 of which are also new to Greece, and 13 genera were reported from Crete for the first time. The island’s known Auchenorrhyncha fauna now totals 177 species, underscoring the importance of museum collections and continued entomological research.

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

Most of the material was obtained from pitfall traps collected during previous research by the Natural History Museum of Crete, gathered between 1988 and 2018 and another part using sweep netting with an entomological net and aspirator.

Method step description:

1. Field Methods Pitfall Trap Method The zoological material from the alcohol collection of the Natural History Museum of Crete was collected using pitfall traps and sorted to the order level, stоred in ethanol (75-96%). Standard-sized cups (9.5 cm in diameter and 12 cm in height) were used, placed following a standardized setup. Ethylene glycol and undiluted propylene glycol were used as killing/preserving agents. Occasionally, small amounts of attractants like vinegar were used, along with liquid soap to reduce surface tension. Large stones were placed over the traps to prevent damage from grazing animals (flocks of sheep and goats on the island). For a more detailed description of the pitfall traps methods applied by NHMC between 1988 & 2018, please refer to Salata et al. 2020 and references therein. Sweep Netting with Entomological Net Material collected using sweep netting and an aspirator. The net consisted of a steel ring with a cotton bag, based on some Czech models. The handle was improved to be detachable into three parts for easier transportation. The aspirator was made using a cork stopper, a stainless steel inlet tube (220 mm long, 5 mm outer diameter), and a shorter outlet tube with an attached hose equal in length to an arm. Both tubes pierced the cork, which fit tightly into the neck of a 50 ml centrifuge tube (30 mm diameter, 120 mm long). Inside the tube, a cotton plug was placed to provide a larger contact surface, preventing smaller insects from becoming overly moist and structurally damaged. A thin, long strip of folded filter paper was also added to absorb excess moisture and separate the interior space of the tube. Ethyl acetate was applied through the inlet tube, followed by inserting a cotton plug soaked with a few drops of the substance. Following a period of approximately 24 hours exposure to ethyl acetate vapours, the material was subjected to desiccation and stored until it was mounted on cotton layers.
2. Laboratory Methods Dry specimens, collected by sweepnet and aspirator, were rehydrated before mounting in a small container whit a few drops of water. Alcohol-preserved material was prepared after drying on filter paper. Mounting Each specimen was glued with entomological adhesive to a properly sized mounting card, mounted on an entomological pin in a position allowing observation of key taxonomic and sexual features. Male genital segments were dissected and placed in a drop of distilled water (or 10% sodium hydroxide solution) in a small flat-bottomed test tube for a few minutes to macerate. This allowed for the safe opening of the genital capsule and easier removal of fat and muscle tissue and after that all of the structures were glued on the same mounting card as the specimen. Preparation was done under a Leica M60 stereomicroscope at suitable magnification. 
3. Collection Organization Specimens from the Natural History Museum of Crete were recorded in the museum's internal database. Museum-provided labels were attached to the pin of each specimen. Each had two labels: the upper indicating sex and the lower containing collection info. Specimens were arranged in taxonomic order in wooden boxes with glass lids. The material is stored at the Natural History Museum of Crete (NHMC), curated by Apostolos Trichas PhD. 

Collection Data

Additional Metadata