Ms Natalie Dale-Skey
Curator, Hymenoptera
ORCID: 0000-0001-7582-0386
Department: Life Sciences
Division: LS Insects Division
Group: Insects, Hymenoptera
Specialisms: Chalcidoidea; Evanioidea, Megalyroidea, Stephanoidea and Trigonalyoidea collections; curation; microhymenoptera collecting and mounting
Summary
I am responsible for the Museum Chalcidoidea collection and several other parasitoid Hymenoptera (Evanioidea, Megalyroidea, Mymarommatoidea, Stephanoidea and Trigonalyoidea).My curatorial work is currently mainly focused on Chalcidoidea, a difficult but fascinating superfamily of microhymenoptera (most are under 3mm long, and the group includes the smallest known insect: Dicopomorpha echmepterygis Mockford, 1997, a Mymaridae whose males are only 0.11 mm long). The Museum holds material of more than 12,000 Chalcidoidea species (out of about 22,000 described species), around 5,000 of which are represented by primary types.Current collection projects include cataloguing historically important specimens such as those collected by Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace and Henry Walter Bates.
Qualifications
Degrees
- MSc, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Highlighted publications
- Dale-Skey N, Heraty JM (2025) Historical Workers on the Chalcidoidea. Chalcidoidea of the World. Heraty JM, Woolley J (Eds). CABI
- Burks R, Mitroiu M-D, Fusu L, Heraty JM, Janšta P, Heydon S, Papilloud ND-S, Peters RS, Tselikh EV, Woolley JB, Van Noort S, Baur H, Cruaud A, Darling C, Haas M, Hanson P, Krogmann L, Rasplus J-Y From hell’s heart I stab at thee! A determined approach towards a monophyletic Pteromalidae and reclassification of Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 94, 13 - 88. doi: 10.3897/jhr.94.94263
- CAO H-X, DALE-SKEY N, BURWELL CJ, ZHU C-D Review of the genus Pleurotroppopsis Girault (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) with interspecific phylogenetic relationships based on morphological characters. Zootaxa 5190, 451 - 484. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.5190.4.1
- Tselikh EV, Várkonyi G, Dale-Skey N Review of the genus Plutothrix Förster, 1856 (Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae) with a key to Palaearctic species. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 93, 1 - 32. doi: 10.3897/jhr.93.86238
Highlighted publications
- Dale-Skey N, Heraty JM (2025) Historical Workers on the Chalcidoidea. Chalcidoidea of the World. Heraty JM, Woolley J (Eds). CABI
- Burks R, Mitroiu M-D, Fusu L, Heraty JM, Janšta P, Heydon S, Papilloud ND-S, Peters RS, Tselikh EV, Woolley JB, Van Noort S, Baur H, Cruaud A, Darling C, Haas M, Hanson P, Krogmann L, Rasplus J-Y From hell’s heart I stab at thee! A determined approach towards a monophyletic Pteromalidae and reclassification of Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 94, 13 - 88. doi: 10.3897/jhr.94.94263
- CAO H-X, DALE-SKEY N, BURWELL CJ, ZHU C-D Review of the genus Pleurotroppopsis Girault (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) with interspecific phylogenetic relationships based on morphological characters. Zootaxa 5190, 451 - 484. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.5190.4.1
- Tselikh EV, Várkonyi G, Dale-Skey N Review of the genus Plutothrix Förster, 1856 (Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae) with a key to Palaearctic species. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 93, 1 - 32. doi: 10.3897/jhr.93.86238