Weck-Heimann
Prof. Dr. Uwe Fritz
Koenigsbruecker Landstr. 159
Assistant: Dr. Melita Vamberger
Phone +49 351 795841-4328
Fax +49 351 795841-4327
melita.vamberger@senckenberg.de
The Museum of Zoology in Dresden, with more than 6 million specimens, is one of the approximately 10 large zoological collections of Germany. The Dresden collections originate from all over the globe, and their international significance is due not least to the abundance of name-bearing types represented (holotypes, lectotypes and syntypes of some 15,000 species and subspecies; if paratypes and paralectotypes are considered, about 53,000 type specimens).
The Museum of Zoology with its modern research laboratories is divided into several sections, the curators of which, in addition to their research, are responsible for extensive collections. In addition, three further full-time scientists cover research fields without responsibility for collections.
The scientific work on terrestrial and freshwater animals covers all aspects of biodiversity research: taxonomy, systematics and phylogeny, anatomy, morphology and zoogeography, using both morphological and molecular-genetic methods.
The library is the largest zoological science library in Saxony, with many valuable historical items.
Research in the Coleoptera Section spans a wide range of projects related to the comparative and functional morphology (exoskeleton, musculature, nerves, glands), phylogenetics, taxonomy, paleontology, and faunistics in a number of insect orders, with a focus on Coleoptera (beetles), Mantophasmatodea (heel-walkers), Dictyoptera (cockroaches, termites, and praying mantids), Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), and Dermaptera (earwigs).
The research in the Diptera Division Dresden is focussed on faunistics, biosystematics and zoogeography of sciaroid flies, especially the families Bolitophilidae, Diadocidiidae, Ditomyiidae, Keroplatidae and Mycetophilidae.
Weibliche Zecke (Holzbock) Ixodes ricinus, von der Unterseite, Aufnahme A.Weck-Heimann, Zeiss EVO50 Rasterelektronenmikroskop
The collections range from protozoans (Foraminifera) to more highly evolved worms (Annelids). Research activities contribute to the Senckenberg Research Field Biodiversity and Systematics.
The ichthyological collection of the Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden, Museum for Zoology (formerly State Natural History Collections Dresden, Museum for Zoology), was founded as a separate department in 1880. A curator was employed in 1961.
Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Beside the molluscs the section in Dresden is in charge of the collections Chelicerata, Myriapoda, Crustacea, Echinodermata, and Tunicata.
Adrian Giacomelli
Molecular Laboratory Team