120 Years in 120 Objects
Join the KwaZulu-Natal Museum in celebrating the museumโs 120th year of orbiting the sun. Staff and guest curators have chosen one object or item per year of our existence to highlight to the public. Visit the website and our social media platforms regularly to see the latest object and keep an eye out for information about a physical exhibition later this year!
Todayโs Object is from 1983
A Museum Filled with Flies by Kirstin Williams, Chief Curator of Arthropoda
In 1983, the Diptera (flies) collection of Dr F.K.E. Zumpt, was donated to the KwaZulu-Natal Museum. Dr Zumpt worked at the South African Institute for Medical Research between 1948 and 1981. He was known for his work on ticks, mites, bedbugs, tsetse fly, and trypanosomiasis. He published over 300 scientific papers and 15 books, including being the editor of three volumes of Arthropod Parasites of Vertebrates in Africa South of the Sahara. The collection contains valuable specimens of both medical and veterinary importance in the form of pinned insects and microscope slides. These include species of the Muscidae, Glossinidae, Hippoboscidae, Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae, and Oestridae families. Of the specimens in the collection that were collected by Zumpt, 50 are holotypes and 87 are paratypes adding to the value of the collection. The collection has been incorporated into the entomology collection of the museum and has been utilised by scientists from all over the world. The KwaZulu-Natal Museum has one of the largest and most diverse Diptera collections in Africa.
The Zumpt Collection has over 3500 specimens
