Catalogue of the Grasshopper and Cricket Collection of the Natural History Museum of Split

Zbirke kukaca od neprocjenjive su važnosti za znanost jer pružaju uvid u bioraznolikost koja je u naglom opadanju te su dokaz faune određenog područja. Kukci kao najbrojnija skupina životinja najbolje odražavaju stanje bioraznolikosti, lako se pronalaze i ne zauzimaju puno prostora pa su poželjan materijal u muzejskim zbirkama. Cilj ovog završnog rada bio je izraditi popis svih primjeraka ravnokrilaca koje Prirodoslovni muzej u Splitu posjeduje, inventarizirati zbirku i dati prve podatke o očuvanosti zbirke. U svrhu izrade rada proučena je zbirka skakavaca i zrikavaca Prirodoslovnog muzeja u Splitu i literatura o ravnokrilcima s naglaskom na faunu Hrvatske te literatura o muzejskoj građi i konzervaciji iste. Zbirka sadrži ukupno 3 300 primjeraka unutar 2 015 inventarnih jedinica. Ukupan broj vrsta u zbirci je 150 od kojih 142 vrste obitavaju na području Hrvatske. Zbirka je dobro očuvana, no potrebno ju je redovno pregledavati jer je u nekoliko kutija zabilježen kornjaš koji se hrani suhim kukcima muzejskih zbirki.Insect collections are of immense importance to science because they provide insight into biodiversity, which is rapidly declining and are evidence of the fauna of a given area. Insects, the most numerous group of animals, best reflect biodiversity, are easy to find and do not take up much space, so they are widely represented in museum collections. The goal of this paper was to make a list orthoptera specimens hosted by the Natural History Museum of Split, to inventory the collection and to provide the data on the state of preservation of the collection. For the purpose of writing the paper, the collection of grasshoppers and crickets of the Museum of Natural History in Split was studied as well as the literature on grasshoppers and crickets with an emphasis on the fauna of Croatia together with the literature on the museum's material. The collection contains a total of 3 300 specimens within 2015 inventory units. The total number of species in the collection is 150, of which 142 species dwell in Croatia. Collection is well preserved, however, in need of constant monitoring since the beetle that feasts upon dry insects of museum collections has been recorded in several storage boxes