Many millipede collections harbor extensive unsorted and unidentified material. Few millipede collections are databased, and these impediments hamper the access to research material. The California Academy of Sciences and the Field Museum each house considerable millipede material from Madagascar. The material was brought together mainly through collecting efforts by Dr. Steven Goodman (The Field Museum) and Dr. Charles Griswold (California Academy of Sciences). Dr. Griswold’s expeditions to Madagascar were funded by NSF-grant DEB-0072713: 'Terrestrial Arthropod Inventory of Madagascar' to Drs. C. E. Griswold and Dr. Brian Fisher (September 2000-August 2003).
Graduate student Thomas Wesener (Ruhr-University Bochum) sorted through all Madagascar millipede specimens housed at the California Academy of Sciences and the Field Museum, and prepared a list of the available material. His visit to the Field Museum and the California Academy of Sciences was funded by NSF PEET grant 97-12438 for P. Sierwald and W.A. Shear and by the California Academy of Sciences.
Please contact the following curators for a loan of our specimens:
The Field Museum: Dr. Petra Sierwald
California Academy of Sciences: Dr. Charles Griswold