Historia de la Escarabaeidologia en el Ecuador

The history of Entomology in Ecuador is deeply related to Spain’s socio-cultural heritage. Unlike other countries of the New World, which benefited from the flow of scientistis migrating from Europe escaping from the difficult situations of the last two centuries, our country was not affected by this contribution, thus remaining isolated from the entomological point of view. However, from 1800 to the present day, Ecuador has been the destination of several scientific expeditions and occasional visits of entomologists who contributed remarkably to the knowledge of the country’s extraordinary scarabaeidological fauna.The main routes followed by scientists were: Guayaquil-Ventanas-Riobamba-Quito; Guayaquil-Molleturo-Cuenca; the inter- Andean Valley from Tulcán to Loja; Cuenca-Sigsig-Gualaquiza, and Baños-Puyo- Río Bobonaza-Río Pastaza up to Amazonía. Only in the last two decades, with the coming of the "oil age", have new routes of access to the Amazonian basin been opened. Entomological research was mainly funded by the countries of the Northen hemisphere and as a consequence the specimens were taken to the countries promoting entomological collections.Our Scarabaeoidea are in numerous foreign museums. Recently, in Ecuador have been established the QCAZ (Quito Católica Zoología) and MECN (Museo Ecuatoriano Ciencias Naturales) museums, which contain representative collections of Scarabaeoidea. Since 1980, the professional training of entomologists, who have contributed remarkably to the preparation of collections and analysis of specimens, has laid the foundations of the development of scarabeidology in our country. The chaotic growth of oil-related and agricultural activities, along with the construction of a capillary road network, has brought about the colonization of large areas and, as a consequence, the destruction of the natural habitat. It's urgent to intensify scarabeidological investigations in areas not yet explored, before our entomological richness disappears once and for all. It is extremely important also to rescue the scarabeoidological indigenous knowledge, which, although not included in the traditional scientific frame, certainly represents a great amount of ancestral wisdom and is a valuable heritage of mankind.