Dominique Zimmermann

Naturhistorisches Museum Wien · Zoological Department II

The Orussidae is a small and rare but phylogenetically important family of parasitoid wasps. The fossil record of the family is also very poor. Baltorussus velteni was described from Baltic amber from an allegedly female specimen. This and another recently discovered specimen are examined with microCT scanning and standard microscopy. We reveal tha...

The Aculeata comprises some of the best known Hymenoptera. Traditionally, their sister group has been considered to be the Ichneumo-noidea; however, recent phylogenetic analyses contradict this hypothesis. We evaluate three potential candidates for the sister group of aculeate wasps: Ichneumonoidea, Evanioidea and Trigonaloidea. This is addressed b...

While many pollen wasps nest in hard clayey soil or in rigid sand or use these kinds of substrates to build aerial earthen cells, all representatives of the genus Quartinia, in which nesting behavior has been studied so far, construct their nests in habitats with loose sand. The walls of the burrow are stabilized by a silky excretion that is applie...

Red Lists are important tools for nature conservation, especially if up-to-date information on the threat status of species is available. Due to the high diversity of habitats (e.g., elevation and climatic zones) within a small area, Austria’s wild bee diversity is high compared to other Central European countries, with currently 702 species listed...

As insect decline threatens the fauna of Central Europe, "dark taxa" present an obstacle to understanding biodiversity loss. The superfamily Platygastroidea is a dark taxon, with many superficial descriptions requiring examination of type material to characterize and revise species and genera. The Natural History Museum Vienna (Naturhistorisches Mu...

The study of insect morphology has recently benefited greatly from the emergence of new digital imaging and analysis technologies such as X-ray Micro-computed tomography (μ-CT), digital 3D reconstruction, and animation. Through interactive gaming and virtual reality, the external morphology of insects can be studied by a broad audience of both ento...

The study of insect morphology has recently benefited greatly from the emergence of new digital imaging and analysis technologies such as X-ray Micro-computed tomography (μ-CT), digital 3D reconstruction, and animation. Through interactive gaming and virtual reality, the external morphology of insects can be studied by a broad audience of both ento...

Pollinators play a crucial role in ecosystems globally, ensuring the seed production of most flowering plants. They are threatened by global changes and knowledge of their distribution at the national and continental levels is needed to implement efficient conservation actions, but this knowledge is still fragmented and/or difficult to access. As a...

The wild bee community of a sand steppe habitat in Eastern Austria was surveyed in the years 2018 and 2019, complemented with historical data from over 100 years, and analyzed in relation to land use change. The mapping of land use categories was based on historical aerial photographs and orthophotos. Changes in bee community composition were analy...

Bees of Europe are known to visit Tilia flowers of the subfamily Tilioideae and pollen grains of this plant genus are frequently found on the bee’s exterior, especially in their corbiculae and scopae. To unravel the origin and history of Tilioideae-Anthophila relationships through the geological history of Europe, we studied flowers and insects fro...

The wild bee community of a sand steppe habitat in Eastern Austria was surveyed in the years 2018 and 2019, complemented with historical data from over 100 years, and analyzed in relation to land use change. The mapping of land use categories was based on historical aerial photographs and orthophotos. Changes in bee community composition were analy...

Climate change is an important driver of the spread of apiary pests and honeybee predators. These impact on one of the economically most important pollinators and thus pose serious threats to the functioning of both natural ecosystems and crops. We investigated the impact of the predicted climate change in the periods 2040-2060 and 2060-2080 on the...

Bei den 10 ABOL-BioBlitz-Aktionen im Rahmen der Tage der Artenvielfalt 2019 und 2020, die großteils in Schutzgebieten stattfanden, wurden DNA-Barcodes von Or-ganismen erstellt, die im Zuge der Veranstaltungen gesammelt und bestimmt wur-den. Im Rahmen dieser Publikation werden insgesamt 2.172 Datensätze bzw. 1.750 DNA-Barcodes von 1.040 Arten veröff...

This study reports on a survey of the wild bee fauna (Apidae s.l.) in the Umbal and Virgen Valleys, East Tyrol, during 17–23 July 2020. Eighty-nine species were registered. Hylaeus (Hylaeus) annulatus (linnAeuS, 1758) and Osmia (Melanosmia) alticola BenoiSt, 1922 are recorded from East Tyrol for the first time.

A critical and annotated catalogue of 309 types of Chrysididae belonging to 144 species, subspecies, and taxonomically available variations housed in the Natural History Museum Vienna is given. The neotypes of Chrysis austriaca Fabricius, 1804, Chrysis radians Harris, 1776, Chrysis socia Dahlbom, 1854, Holopyga gloriosa var. caucasica Mocsáry, 1889...

The Neuroptera are highly heterogeneous endopterygote insects. While their relatives Megaloptera and Raphidioptera have biting mouthparts also in their larval stage, the larvae of Neuroptera are characterized by conspicuous sucking jaws that are used to imbibe fluids, mostly the haemolymph of prey. They comprise a mandibular and a maxillary part an...

We present the first morphological study of the internal head structures of adults of the coniopterygid genus Aleuropteryx, which belong to the smallest known lacewings. The head is ventrally closed with a gula, which is unique in adult Neuroptera and otherwise developed in Megaloptera, the sister group of Neuroptera. The dorsal tentorial arms are...

Rediscovery of the social digger wasp Cerceris rubida (Jurine, 1807) (Hymenoptera: Crabroni-dae) in Austria, with notes on biology.-New records of the digger wasp Cerceris rubida (Jurine, 1807) from Vienna and Lower Austria are documented, and observations on the biology of the species described. Until now, only one Austrian record from the 19 th c...

This year we look back at 160 years of entomological research published in the DEZ. Believe it or not, our journal is the third oldest of all still existing entomological periodicals worldwide! A concatenation of favourable circumstances? At first glance, the first decades were rather tough ones, involving personal controversies, splitting of the s...

External and internal head structures of adult Coniopteryx pygmaea Enderlein, 1906, one of the smallest known lacewings, are described in detail for the first time. Possible effects of miniaturization and two hypotheses on the phylogenetic position of Coniopterygidae are evaluated and compared with data from literature. Several convergent modificat...

Additions to the bee fauna (Hymeno ptera: Apidae) of Vienna, Austria. – As an addition to a recently published checklist of the bees in Vienna, six first records are communicated: Hylaeus pectoralis Förster, 1871, Colletes mlokossewiczi radsZoWski, 1891, Andrena dorsalis brullé, 1832, Anthidium florentinum (Fabricius, 1775), Megachile flabellipes P...

External and internal features of the head of adult Nevrorthus apatelios are described in detail. The results are compared with data from literature. The mouthpart muscle M. stipitalis transversalis and a hypopharyngeal transverse ligament are newly described for Neuroptera and herewith reported for the first time in Endopterygota. A submental glan...

Beutel RG, Friedrich F, Ge S-Q, Yang X-K (2014) Insect Morphology and Phylogeny: A textbook for students of entomology. De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 516 pp., softcover. ISBN 978-3-11-026263-6.

With the beginning of this year, the Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift (DEZ), one of the world’s oldest entomology journals, became a front-line fighter of modern scientific publishing. The transfer to Pensoft, the new publisher, brings changes about, as I see it, all of them for the benefit of the scientific community.

The external and internal head anatomy of Sisyra terminalis is described in detail and compared with data from literature. A salivary pump consisting of a peculiar reservoir and a hitherto unknown muscle, M. ductus salivarii, is newly described for Neuroptera. The upward folded paraglossae form a secondary prolongation of the salivary system. These...

Despite several recent analyses on the phylogeny of Neuroptera some questions still remain to be answered. In the present analysis we address these questions by exploring a hitherto unexplored character complex: the tentorium, the internal cuticular support structure of the insect head. We described in detail the tentoria of representatives of all...

Despite several recent analyses on the phylogeny of Neuroptera some questions still remain to be answered. In the present analysis we address these questions by exploring a hitherto unexplored character complex: the tentorium, the internal cuticular support structure of the insect head. We described in detail the tentoria of representatives of all...

External and internal head structures of Osmylus fulvicephalus were examined and described in detail. Exo- and endoskeleton, musculature, elements of the central nervous system and tracheae are compared to conditions found in other groups of Neuropterida and other endopterygote lineages. Thirty-six adult cephalic characters were compiled, combined...

Adults of two coniopterygid species, Aleuropteryx juniperi Ohm, 1968 (Aleuropteryginae) and Semidalis aleyrodiformis (Stephens, 1836) (Coniopteryginae), were studied using scanning electron microscopy. Interspecific differences in the ultrastructure of the integument of all the major parts of the body were identified and described, and the function...

Two new ant species from the Philippines, Forelophilus stefanschoedli sp. nov. and Forelophilus philippinensis sp. nov., are described, illustrated and compared with the type species, Forelophilus overbecki Kutter, 1931 from Java, Indonesia, hitherto the only species described in the genus. Forelophilus stefanschoedli sp. nov. is known from minor a...

Records are reported for the following rare digger wasp species: Prionyx kirbii (VANDER LINDEN, 1827) (first records from Vienna), Mimumesa littoralis (BONDROIT, 1934) (first record from Lower Austria, first confirmed record from Austria), Mimumesa beaumonti (VAN LITH, 1949) (first record from Lower Austria), Crossocerus (Oxycrabro) acanthophorus (...