Insect Museum

Mission

Serving as a research tool for UW students, faculty, and visiting research scientists,  the mission is utilization of the collection to facilitate and document research, teaching, and outreach in arthropod biology.

Collection

The UW insect research collection contains historical specimens from all parts of Wyoming, all 50 states, more than 60 foreign countries, and six continents.  Currently the insect research collections are estimated to contain more than one million preserved insect specimens (½ million pinned and more than ½ million bulk specimens in alcohol jars and vials).  Insect specimens preserve study material for anatomical, ecological, and genetic research.  Specimen labels preserve historical records of distributions, feeding behaviors, and seasonal occurrence.  The collection represents more than a century of research, with pinned specimens dating from the 1888.  More ancient insect specimens include 400 year old glacial remains of the now-extinct Rocky Mountain locust, and 40-50 million year old insects embedded in fossil amber.  About 14,000 insect species reside in Wyoming and many can only be identified by direct comparison with museum specimens.  Most are quite small animals – only a few millimeters long or smaller – so a single museum drawer may contain 400 specimens or more.  More than 400 researchers from all around the world have borrowed specimens for their research, or visited the UW collection, over the last decade.  The UW collection contains type-specimens of more than 200 newly-described insect species, and thousands of prepared specimens representing currently unnamed species – awaiting study by insect specialists. 

All orders of insects are represented, but particularly rich are the holdings of wasps, butterflies, moths, flies, and grasshoppers.  The research collections of beneficial braconid wasps and asilid robber flies are among the best in the world – insects that are important to forest health by naturally suppressing pest populations of plant-feeding insects.  The vial collections contain good representation of Wyoming aquatic insects – important bio-indicators of water quality in mountain streams.  Diverse insect collections from Costa Rica, Brazil, and Ecuador preserve historical records of life in highly-threatened tropical forest habitats.  To avoid replicating collections of other institutions, our specimen preparation efforts over the last 20 years have focused on preserving little-studied microscopic groups, and organisms from endangered habitats.  Of the estimated seven to ten million insect species on this planet, only about one million have been given scientific names so far.  Only a small fraction (less than 1%) of insect species are pests.  The vast majority of insects are beneficial as pollinators, seed dispersers, nutrient-recyclers, food for wildlife, bio-indicators of environmental quality, and predators or parasites of plant-feeding insects.  Plant-feeding insects generate forest diversity by suppressing dominant plants.  Tropical insects are being studied as sources of new medicines, oils, and scents for perfumes.  The UW Insect Museum preserves valuable scientific and historical specimens for present and future research and for education.

Insect Gallery

The University of Wyoming Insect Gallery, located in Room 4018 of the Agriculture Building, is a public-viewing area for the UW Insect Museum.  The Insect Gallery includes educational displays of preserved insects (moths, butterflies, and beetles), a small Insect Zoo with living arthropods (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, crickets, walking sticks, tarantulas, millipedes, and seasonal displays of Wyoming insects), a browsing library of insect books for children, and discovery cabinet with insect-related items (insect hand stamps, nets, cocoons, beekeeping equipment).  The public teaching displays include exotic specimens from all around the world (North America, Central America, South America, Africa, southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia), as well as displays of more well-known insects (butterflies and moths) of this region (Wyoming and Colorado).  The Insect Gallery is open to the public on weekdays (Monday to Friday) from 9 am to 4 pm.  The gallery is not open on weekends, nights, or holidays.  Visitors are welcome, there is no fee, and no appointments are necessary for small groups.  Large groups are encouraged to call the curator, Dr. Scott R. Shaw, at 766-5338 for appointments.  The Pfadt memorial grasshopper collection is located separately on the first floor of Agriculture.  Visitors interested in grasshoppers should contact Dr. Scott Schell (766-2508).