zimmerman

Zimmerman Cynipid Collection

Jim Zimmerman became interested in gall wasps as a student of Alfred Kinsey. After spending his academic career teaching all fields of entomology and specializing on aquatic beetles, he rekindled his interest in cynipid wasps when he retired. He has donated his collection of over 25,000 specimens of gall wasps to the UAIC.

The collection is the result of 20 years of study and fieldwork. Jim continues to work at the UAIC twice a week, identifying specimens and describing new species.

Zimmerman’s cynipid collection is geographically focused on the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico but also includes some material from the eastern US and throughout Mexico. The collection is currently housed in seventy 45x45-cm drawers in custom cabinets, handcrafted by Zimmerman himself, who is also an avid wood-worker.

The collection consists of galls, the gall wasps raised from those galls, parasitoids of those wasps, and inquilines infesting the galls. The data include location, collection date, host species, wasp species, and emergence date. Extensive series demonstrate regional variations in gall patterns.

The collection is accompanied by an extensive literature collection consisting of rare primary papers, resource literature, and books by Alfred Kinsey and Lewis H. Weld.

This well-organized and meticulously documented collection is a unique resource, which is extremely valuable for ongoing and future studies.