ASU entomologists started work in the repositories of leading European museums

Roman V. Yakovlev, professor at the Faculty of Biology, and Artem Naidenov, student of the Faculty of Biology, conducted research at Thomas Witt Museum (Germany) and National Museum of Natural History in Paris (Muséum national d'histoire naturelle) (France).

The main task of the trip was to process materials on the butterflies of the Cossidae family (carpenters) living in a number of tropical regions, primarily in Africa and South America.

“The trip was a success. We are especially pleased that a rich collection of the Paris Museum has been opened to the public after a long renovation. Our trip to Paris was quite spontaneous, as soon as we learned that the museum opened – we immediately left for France. The curator of the Department of Entomology, Professor Joel Mine, was very friendly with us, allowing us to work independently in the repository and take important materials for processing. Collections in Paris include interesting specimens from the former French colonies. The collections from Madagascar, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Martinique and French Guiana were especially interesting,” Roman Yakovlev commented on the results of the visit. “In addition, unique typical (reference) samples are stored in the Paris Museum, some of which are dated to 1850s. The study of these specimens is an integral part of the work of a systematics entomologist, which makes it possible to avoid errors with the definition of modern material in the future.”

Roman V. Yakovlev also clarified that his student Artem Naidenov, whom he already considers to be a full-fledged entomologist colleague, is currently carrying out scientific work on the fauna of the family of moths of woodworms (Cossidae) of South America. This, according to the eminent scientist, is an extremely promising topic, with a huge potential of scientific novelty.