Waite Insect & Nematode Collection

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The Waite Insect and Nematode Collection (WINC) was formed in early 2001 by the merger of The University of Adelaide’s Duncan Swan Insect Collection (WARI), the Waite Institute Nematode Collection (WINC), and the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) insect collection, and is housed primarily at the Waite Campus of The University of Adelaide. The parasitic Hymenoptera research collection is housed at the North Terrace Campus of the University.

The collection contains in excess of 500,000 insect and other arthropod specimens that are dry mounted, in spirit, or on slides. It is extensively used by staff and postgraduate students to undertake identifications and as a source of taxonomic, biological and distributional information. A significant number of paratype specimens are held, but all holotypes are lodged in the National Collection in Canberra (ANIC). Notable holdings of particular importance to taxonomic research include parasitic Hymenoptera, collections of larvae and other immature stages of groups injurious to plants such as acridid grasshoppers and scarabaeid beetles, and Acarina, Araneae, Thysanoptera, Homoptera (chiefly Psylloidea and Coccoidea), and Lepidoptera. 

The collection also houses the largest collection of plant, soil and entomophilic nematodes in Australia, and is currently the largest world collection of endemic Australian plant and soil nematodes. It contains approximately 25,000 glass slides with nematodes mounted in glycerol, as well as 300 vials of unsorted fixed material. As well as valuable reference material, the collection is an important resource for studies of biodiversity and distribution of nematodes, including materials from collection sites around Australia from both agricultural and natural habitats. The mounted nematodes comprise an older plant parasitic component, to which have been added large numbers of dorylaimid, mononchid and entomophilic nematodes. The collection is a basic resource essential for all nematological research work: it contains voucher material from numerous field workers including plant breeders, for diagnostic work and quarantine, as well as some type material.