UAE resident finds 167 insects new to science

posted on 08/06/2009: 93 views

Ever been woken up by an incessant buzzing near your ear and wished insects would just leave you alone and go far, far away?

Well, one man in the UAE can't have enough of the bugs. Studying bugs is a passion for him.

Antonius Van Harten, 63, from Holland, lives in Sharjah. He describes himself as a professional entomologist with 41 years experience. His laboratory is testament to the hours and hours he puts into sorting bugs.

Before Van Harten started, existing research from 1979 to 2008 listed 828 insect species recorded in the UAE. Now, more than 11,000 samples later, 932 new species to the UAE have been found, and of those 167 are new to science.

Over the last three years, Van Harten has been putting together a complete record of anything that flies, buzzes, hums, drones or whistles.

So far, he has completed two volumes of Arthropod Fauna of the UAE, but so rich is the Arabian peninsula's insect population, that enough specimens have been collected to fill six books.

"The ones under two millimetres are the most interesting," Van Harten says, as he picks up a container. "The bigger ones have already been recorded."

Peering at the black mass inside the container, thousands of tiny insects come into focus.

Van Harten's laboratory is a specially modified room at the back of his property with shelves of jars filled with insects collected over the last four years.

A microscope takes up most of the space on his desk behind which posters of ants and beetles are tacked to the wall. The smell of chemical wafts around giving the room the desired air of science and research.

Van Harten was commissioned to put these records together under the patronage of Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

These records have been compiled into two volumes. A third volume is in the pipeline.

Should the project go on to record everything Van Harten has collected so far, it would be one of the biggest collections in the world. He has already made many scientific discoveries with the help of 220 experts from 28 countries.

"Experts usually focus on one species or sub-species - it is very specific so I have had to resort to a network of peers to have everything identified," he said.

The majority of the insects in the UAE are diptera, commonly known as mosquitoes, gnats or midges.

Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen, where Van Harten spent 10 years, have made good headway in finding new insect species.

"The insects new to science are good but the main thing is to show all the species and not just look for new ones. The point is to give people an idea of all the fauna out there," he said. Arthropod Fauna of the UAE has been reviewed as providing "surprising wealth and diversity" of the region by the British Journal of Natural History. – Gulf News

RELATED ARTICLES

15 February 2011	NASA explorers set course for UAE desert
19 January 2011	Khalifa Foundation grants Texas University US$150 million for cancer research
31 May 2007	UAE ranks among world’s top 50 peaceful countries
14 March 2007	Satellite project discovers ground water in Sharjah
08 March 2007	Gates foundation to fund malaria centre

blog comments powered by Disqus