History#
Founding#
It all began on 28 May 1958 during the first multi-day excursion of Württemberg coleopterists to Oberstotzingen, initiated by Adolf Horion. There, at Paul Dolderer’s place, the following people met in addition to Monsignore Horion (Überlingen): Dr. Harald Buck (Stuttgart), Dr. Karl Wilhelm Harde (Stuttgart), Dr. Werner Heiligmann (Welzheim), Hans Kostenbader (Stuttgart), Dr. Rudolf Köstlin (Kornwestheim), Walter Liebmann (Oberkochen), Ursula Pfizer (Ulm), and Dr. Edmund Ulbrich (Neuhütten). They founded the Working Group of Württemberg Coleopterists. As can be seen from a “Short Note” by Dr. Köstlin in the Jahreshefte des Vereins für vaterländische Naturkunde in Württemberg (1959), the following tasks were identified at the time as particularly urgent:
• Research into the beetle fauna of Württemberg
• Division of work in identification (determinative work-sharing)
• Publication of a new Württemberg beetle checklist/catalogue
• Conducting an annual joint excursion
• Holding an annual coleopterists’ conference
In 1968, the “Württemberg” working group became the Working Group of Southwest German Coleopterists (ASK).
Since its founding, the working group consisted of an informal group of like-minded people. At the general assembly of the Entomologischer Verein in March 2014, the establishment of the section was proposed and unanimously approved. The working group thereby obtained the status of a non-profit corporate body.
Excursions#
As decided in 1958, to this day two excursions are held every year, with changing destinations in under-sampled areas of Baden-Württemberg. The results are published in the Mitteilungen des Entomologischen Vereins Stuttgart. In 2019, the 61st excursion dedicated to researching the beetle fauna of Baden-Württemberg took place. Further information can be found under “Excursions”.
Mitteilungen des Entomologischen Vereins (Society Bulletin)#
In order to be able to publish the results of the excursions and other entomologically relevant topics, the Mitteilungen were founded in 1966. The first issues consisted of individually copied, hand-stapled DIN A4 sheets. Later, the increasingly affordable digital and offset printing—initially only single-colour, and consistently in colour from 2010 onwards—was used to produce the bulletin issues. They contain predominantly contributions on faunistic, taxonomic, ecological and biological topics, as well as society news. The “Minutes of the General Assembly” printed annually in the Mitteilungen and the irregularly published “Annual Report of the Working Group of Southwest German Coleopterists” provide a continuous insight into the activities of the society and the working group.
Publications#
In addition to many specialist articles, the first faunistic treatment of a beetle family was published in 1969 by H. U. Kostenbader, the Coccinellidae (ladybirds). This was followed in 1970 and 1971 by the coprophagous Scarabaeidae (dung beetles) by W. Heiligmann, in 1968 the Scolytidae (bark beetles) by H. J. Kamp, and in 1977 the carrion beetles (Silphidae) by J. Frank. In 1979 we were able to lend a helping hand to our eastern neighbours: the water beetles of Augsburg were published in our Mitteilungen. Further faunistic works followed; particularly noteworthy is the extensive publication on the Apionidae (apion weevils) in three parts by R. Köstlin (1973, 1985, 1990). Later, a very detailed study on the fungus-feeding Ciidae of Baden-Württemberg was published (Reibnitz 1999). This work not only deals with the respective records, but also discusses in depth the biology, development and habitat of this less well-known beetle family.
ased on the extensive record data available, a survey of the beetle fauna of Baden-Württemberg began in 1992 under the lead of Jürgen Frank, with the active support of Eberhard Konzelmann. In 2002, the volume “Die Käfer Baden-Württembergs 1950–2000” was published in the book series Fachdienst Naturschutz of the State Institute for Environmental Protection. It finally replaced the old and long outdated catalogue by v. d. Trappen from the 1930s and enabled a better “qualitative” assessment of our collecting results.
In 2002, the series Grundlagenforschung zum Artenschutzprogramm Baden-Württembergs published a first treatment on beetles: the jewel beetles and stag beetles by F. Brechtel and H. Kostenbader. The volumes in this series describe not only the occurrence of a species, but the entire current state of knowledge of the group concerned. In a similarly comprehensive treatment, but without distribution maps, the weevils (Curculionoidea) followed in 2010 and the leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae) in 2018, both by J. Rheinheimer and M. Hassler. The ground beetles (Carabidae) by J. Trautner were published in two volumes in 2017.
Because printed works become outdated very quickly, Ortwin Bleich (Bad Salzdetfurth) recently programmed a database-backed internet website accessible to everyone called:
Catalogue and Distribution Atlas of the Beetles of Germany
For information, see above under “Deutschlandverzeichnis”. In addition to the co-founders S. Gürlich and F. Köhler, numerous coleopterists from all over Germany actively contribute by continuously adding new data and keeping the nomenclature of the beetle fauna up to date. It continues the printed “Verzeichnis der Käfer Deutschlands” edited by F. Köhler and B. Klausnitzer in 1998 and is indispensable for any coleopterist working seriously.
For Baden-Württemberg, the basis consisted of the numerous datasets from the beetle catalogue compiled by F. Frank and E. Konzelmann, as well as the records of the working group later stored in the ASK database. Particularly noteworthy is the immense work done by H. U. Kostenbader, who—besides maintaining his own collection—entered into a database the publications on Baden-Württemberg beetles scattered across numerous journals. He obtained or copied the relevant articles, archived them, and deposited them in the society library at the SMNS, where they are available to interested persons.
Cave excursions#
In 1979, for some of us a hobby within a hobby developed, with the first cave excursions to the Swabian Alb and to the Chartreuse, a pre-Alpine limestone massif in the northern French Alps. What started privately in a small circle later became a permanent institution. By 2019, more than 40 caves had already been explored, including in Italy, France, Slovenia and Croatia.
German Coleopterists’ Meeting#
The first meeting of the working group, called the “Winter Conference”, took place in January 1959 under the direction of Dr. Köstlin. Ten coleopterists gathered at Schloss Rosenstein of the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart (SMNS). At that time, the leadership of the working group was entrusted to two members of the Entomologischer Verein Stuttgart. One amateur coleopterist and one representative of the SMNS were intended to ensure that a broad range of interests would be represented. This structure has been maintained to this day.
Leadership of the meeting and the working group
1958–1982: Dr. Rudolf Köstlin, general practitioner, and Dr. Karl‑Wilhelm Harde, head of the Entomology Department at the SMNS (died 1982).
1982–1987: Dr. Rudolf Köstlin (died 1987) and Dr. Wolfgang Schawaller (Entomology Department, SMNS).
1987–2018: Jürgen Frank (Waiblingen‑Beinstein), graphic designer, and Dr. Wolfgang Schawaller.
2019 to present: Dr. Till Tolasch (University of Hohenheim) and Dr. Arnault Faille (Entomology Department, SMNS).
In the years after 1959, the meeting was held at the satellite facility of the SMNS in Stuttgart, at Arsenalplatz in Ludwigsburg. During this period, in the early 1960s, Swiss colleagues such as H. Hugentobler, Dr. Viktor Allensbach and Arthur Spälti joined, as well as Dr. G. A. Lohse from Hamburg. At that time, Dr. Freude inspired Dr. Harde and Dr. Lohse with his idea of starting the identification work “Die Käfer Mitteleuropas”. Today we know that, with the publication of this standard work, coleopterology in Central Europe was placed on a new and widely accepted foundation.
Attendance at the Winter Conference rose rapidly in the 1970s. This led to selecting the Hotel “Schlosshof” in Ludwigsburg as the new venue. Later, the lecture program additionally required rooms at the city’s cultural center.
The Winter Conference attracted more and more visitors, and the contributors to the identification work known under the acronym “FHL” also began meeting there. Even after Dr. Harde’s death in 1982, Dr. G. A. Lohse remained the key figure in the technical organization of the conference, by then strongly supported by Harde’s successor Dr. Wolfgang Schawaller.
Unfortunately, the conference photo from 1984 survives only as a silhouette sketch in the society archive. It shows 92 participants, 82 of them labeled with names. The continuing increase in participant numbers, combined with accommodation challenges and often wintry travel conditions, called for a change—especially after, for the first time at the 1986 Winter Conference, visitors from the (then) GDR were able to attend.
In October 1986, the conference therefore took place for the first time in Beutelsbach in the Rems Valley, idyllically located among vineyards—free of winter impairments, but often accompanied by late-summer evenings on the terrace outdoors. At the time we counted about 120 participants. In 1987, with Dr. Köstlin, the last of our founding fathers left us. Although he had still “approved” the move to Beutelsbach, he could no longer participate. However, he still had the great joy of personally meeting and hosting his long-time correspondent in matters of weevils, Lothar Dieckmann.