The Lepidoptera Collection of William Raymond Wooff (1929–2006) in the Manchester Museum

Abstract

The lepidopterans in Raymond Wooff`s collection in the Manchester Museum are distinctively curated and represent an assemblage of insects in the classic Aurelian tradition but created in the twentieth century. This collection was established on index cards, with only butterfly/moth wings being mounted and laminated onto cards. Despite being such an unusual collecting and preservation technique, it illustrates how a dedicated field biologist, with limited resources, can amass a significant, data-rich Lepidoptera collection that provides reliable information on distribution, habitat preferences and phenology of the collected species. The present paper explores the history and content of this unusual Lepidoptera collection and its collector.