A new millipede species from Austria discovered in the collections of NHM Vienna

14. July 2020
In a scientific collaboration between the University of Belgrade and NHM Vienna, two new species of the millipede genus Haasea were discovered and described for the first time for science. The new species from Austria, Haasea gruberi, was hidden in the museum collections whereas the second one, Haasea makarovi, was concealed in the dark of a Serbian cave.
Dr. Nesrine Akkari (Curator of the collection Myriapoda, NHM Vienna) and Dr. Dragan Antić (University of Belgrade) revised the systematics of the European millipede genus Haasea Verhoeff, 1895 (Diplopoda, Chordeumatida) and discovered two new species for Science from Serbia and Austria, respectively.
One of the two species Haasea makarovi Antić & Akkari, 2020 was recently obtained from the cave Bezdan, near Prijepolje in Serbia whereas the second one Haasea gruberi Antić & Akkari, 2020 was discovered among the several recent and historical specimens of the collections of NHM Vienna.
The rare specimens of Haasea gruberi were collected in 1948 by the Austrian collector H. Franz from Natterriegel in Styria and were wrongly considered as another common species from Europe. Since then, the few specimens were hidden on a shelf of the Myriapoda collections for more than 70 years and their identity remained obscure.
 
For this scientific research, the two researchers revised together all the known species of this genus from Europe, examined thousands of specimens and the reference material from the NHM Vienna collections and other European Natural History Museums (Berlin, Geneva, Munich, Sofia, etc.).
The Austrian species Haasea gruberi is named after Dr. Jürgen Gruber (NHM Vienna) for his valuable contribution to understand the taxonomy of genus Haasea and Austrian millipedes.
 
This is an example of collections-based research performed in Natural History Museums. It highlights the importance of the scientific collections as a wealth of recent and historical information for science.
 
The Myriapoda collection in NHM Vienna is one of the largest and most important in the world, thanks to the scientific work of myriapod specialist Carl Graf von Attems, who worked there from 1894 until his death in 1952. Today it comprises around 20,000 objects and 2,000 type series - a “type series” consists of a specimen (or a series of specimens) that serves to define the characteristics of a species in its original description.
Most of the specimens are stored in glass jars and preserved in 75% ethanol. Micro-preparations and a few dry preparations complete the systematic collection.
 
To the article:
https://www.biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4798.1.1
© NHM Wien, N. Akkari
©NHM Wien, N. Akkari
  
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