West Indian amphipod families and genera of the Wagenaar Hummelinck expeditions (Amphipoda, Crustacea) List of sampling stations 1930-1973

The conservation and scientific evaluation of major zoological collections is a relatively timeconsuming task that crucially depends on regular financial support. In times of low funding and limited grants these activities are often cut back to a minimum. Samples and specimens are stored in available spaces, where they remain, more or less well preserved, until better times allow us to unravel their biological secrets. This spring, a subsidy granted by the Beyerinck Popping Foundation supported the study of collection of amphipods that have been stored unsort at the Institute for Systematics and Populationbiology (ISP) for a considerable time, the oldest specimens dating from 1930. Originating from the extensive West Indian sample material of Dr. Wagenaar Hummelinck, these amphipods, together with all kinds of tiny crustaceans, were initially sorted in the sixties by students and staff members of the University of Utrecht. Then they were packed up in four wooden crates and left in storage to await further investigation. Now, with the opportunity to sort these samples to the family level a subsequent step can be made, allowing a first evaluation of this promising and fascinating collection material.