The type collection of Tortricidae in the National Museum of Natural History (USNM), Smithsonian Institution, represents a significant worldwide resource for researchers interested in tortricid moths (i.e., the leafrollers). The strengths of the collection lie in the faunas of North and South America, the Orient (Japan, Taiwan, Philippine Islands), and Oceania. The C. H. Fernald Collection, purchased in 1924 (Clarke 1974), formed the foundation, containing types (primarily cotypes) of numerous species described by Fernald, Lord Walsingham, and W. D. Kearfott, and a few described by A. Grote, B. Clemens, and A. Packard. Walsingham sent Fernald cotypes of most of the species he described from California and Oregon (Walsingham 1879) from material in The Natural History Museum (formerly British Museum of Natural History). Kearfott also gave Fernald examples from his type series; the majority of Kearfott’s material eventually was deposited in the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Klots (1942) resolved most of the nomenclatorial difficulties associated with the Kearfott cotypes, designating numerous lectotypes, primarily in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History. Miller (1970) resolved most of nomenclatorial problems associated with the Fernald cotypes, designating lectotypes for the vast majority of his species of North American Olethreutinae. Few lectotypes have been designated for the Walsingham (1879) species from California and Oregon.

From 1905-1930 August Busck and Carl Heinrich, both U.S. Department of Agriculture employees at the museum, added numerous tortricid types, primarily from North and South America, through their prolific taxonomic research on microlepidoptera. In particular, over 150 species were described by Heinrich (1923, 1926) in his revisions of the Olethreutinae of North America. Also during the early part of the century, Walsingham’s (1914) contribution to the Biologia Centrali-Americana appeared; it included the descriptions of many new species, with most of the material split between The Natural History Museum and the USNM. By this time, Walsingham was designating a type for each new species, so there is little ambiguity regarding these primary types.

In the 1960s, revisions of New World genera by Obraztsov (1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966a, 1966b, 1966c) resulted in the addition of many tortricid types to the USNM collection. From 1968-1982 specific large research projects such as Alexis Diakonoff’s studies of the microlepidoptera of the Philippine Islands (Diakonoff 1968) and of Sri Lanka (Diakonoff 1982), and J. F. G. Clarke’s work on Neotropical Phaloniidae (Clarke 1968) and the microlepidoptera of Rapa Island and Micronesia (Clarke 1971, 1976) added many types of Tortricidae. The Blanchard Collection, donated in 1985 (Davis 1985), also added many tortricid types, nearly all from Texas. The Atsushi Kawabe collection, composed almost exclusively of Oriental species and donated in 1990 (Davis 1996), added significant numbers to the tortricid type collection as well, broadening greatly the geographic coverage. Use of the tortricid holdings of the USNM by specialists worldwide (e.g., Richard L. Brown, John W. Brown, John B. Heppner, William E. Miller, Jerry A. Powell, Josef Razowski, and others) has continued to increase type holdings.

Through recent curatorial efforts, the type specimens of the family Tortricidae have been organized into a single collection. The specimens are arranged in alphabetic sequence by species (or subspecies) in individual, labeled unit trays and stored in 13 insect drawers in the USNM. The purpose of this document is to present a list of the type specimens. The list is arranged alphabetically by species (or subspecies), followed by the author, year of publication, and genus (or genus and species for subspecies) in which the taxon was originally described. This information is followed by an abbreviated citation of the publication in which the description appears. The sex, type designation (i.e., holotype, lectotype, syntype, pseudo-type), and collection data also are included. We attempt to provide the maximum collection data, relying on both the text of the original description and information on specimen labels. For example, country, county, province, etc. frequently are not present on the specimen labels; this information is provided where retrievable accurately. Abbreviations used in the list include the following: AMNH = American Museum of Natural History, New York; BMNH = The Natural History Museum, London; NHMW = Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien; r.f. = reared from; em: = emerged; mi = mile(s); ' = feet (elevation). Where the collecting date can have more than one interpretation, it is presented in quotes. For example, Aug. 8/15 could be interpreted as 8 August 1915 or 8-15 August [no year].

The modern practice of designating a holotype was not followed by most tortricid workers before 1900 (e.g., Riley, Grote, Zeller), and some early authors (e.g., Walsingham, Dyar) labeled all specimens of the original series as type. Where the original type series consists of a single specimen, as clearly stated by the author, we refer to it as the holotype even though not specifically designated as such in the original description. Where only a single specimen is presumed still to be extant from the original series (and a type was not specifically designated), we refer to this specimen as the type (in quotes). In this case, the specimen is a potential lectotype because it may be the only remaining representative from the original series. Where two or more specimens of the original series are present and no type was specifically designated in the original description, we refer to these specimens as syntypes. We defer the latter two cases to the future work of specialists to designate appropriate lectotypes for these, as needed.

At present (2000), the USNM tortricid type collection includes 847 holotypes, 50 lectotypes, 60 species represented by one or more syntypes, 38 types (i.e., the only known extant specimen from the original series), 1 neotype, and 1 pseudo-type.