Tanzania is home to a range of habitats with high biodiversity and endemism, but has a shortage of insect taxonomists. Many local taxonomists are either retired or at the age of retiring with no replacement, or are based in foreign universities and museums. This shortage became apparent during the implementation of three consecutive pollinator projects funded by JRS Biodiversity Foundation in Tanzania between 2017 and 2022 at the College of Wildlife at Mweka and TAWIRI, where insects collected in field projects had to be identified by experts from outside Tanzania. The lack of local capacity in insect taxonomy is among the factors that contribute to lack of national information on invertebrate biodiversity in Tanzania. To fill this gap TAWIRI will initiate a comprehensive inventory of three groups of insect species – Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera, and their biology inside and outside protected areas.

Through this capacity-building project, TAWIRI will establish a training program for 12 local insect parataxonomists skilled in species identification and processing, mobilizing existing data, and updating species records in the Bioanuwai portal. The data resulting from this program will guide local authorities and other users in conservation, agriculture, and support national and global decisions. The project may also spur the creation of a national invertebrate biodiversity network, where data are collected and specimens are identified by parataxonomists, leading in a pipeline of further training of local taxonomic specialists to sustain or accelerate the development of biodiversity expertise in Tanzania.

Dr. Devolent Mtui has over 10 years of work experience as a Wildlife researcher for TAWIRI. Between 2005 and 2009, she collected and identified more than 200 butterfly species in Kihansi Gorge, a portion of Eastern Arc forests Mountains. Among the collection was a new species described as Charaxes mtuiae (Entomologia Africana, 2017; 22: 19 – 30). Through TAWIRI and National Environmental Management Council, she received funding from the GEF to assess the status and distribution of C. mtuiae. Dr. Mtui holds Bachelor degree from University of Dar-es-Salaam, MSc in Conservation Biology from University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and PhD in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Mtui has also expertise in remote sensing and GIS, and published 6 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals.