The Insectarium at the Natural History Museum of San Diego
Most of us see insects as annoyances or even enemies—creatures to be swatted away or, at the extreme, stomped and obliterated with pesticides. But Levon Biss, a macrophotographer who shoots extremely close-ups of small subjects, and the Museum's curators and scientists see insects in a completely different way: as diverse and essential to Earth's ecosystems.
Whether it's to witness the eerie behavior of leaf cutter ants or pass under a transparent sky bridge to watch 1,000 butterflies flap their wings, visitors to the Insectarium will walk away with a fresh appreciation of the amazing diversity of these ancient and resilient creatures. In fact, if you removed reptiles, birds or mammals from an ecosystem, it probably wouldn't survive without insects. So why don't we give these tiny yet mighty animals the respect they deserve?
The Museum has the largest insect collection of any museum in the world. It is comprised of 4 million specimens representing a wide range of taxa, with the greatest concentrations of Southern California and Arizona insects (primarily terrestrial) and Mexican insects. The collections are internationally important for their representation of a wide array of habitats, life history strategies and evolutionary innovations. They also serve as valuable references for entomologists to study and identify species.
One of the Museum's highest priorities is to continue to build and expand these resources to ensure that researchers, students and the general public can access and use them. In addition to enhancing our exhibitions, the Museum's insect collection also supports scientific research and training of future generations of entomologists through numerous partnerships, including internships and graduate student scholarships.
Perhaps the most significant resource in our insect collection are the primary type specimens, the crown jewels of any biological collection. These are pinned insects that have been collected and formally identified, enabling other entomologists to compare their own specimens with them in order to confirm the identity of a particular species. The Museum's Crotch collection of ladybirds, for example, contains over 550 primary types—making it by far the largest collection of its kind in the world. For more details please visit insect museum
In addition to our live insect exhibitions, the Museum houses many important arthropod reference collections that help entomologists identify species from local and global sites. The Museum also serves as a repository for voucher specimens associated with research conducted by its faculty, staff and students.
Joel joined the Museum in September, and is currently working on preserving and interpreting our extensive insect collections. He is excited to explore the understudied taxa around Pullman and hopes to engage audiences through the Museum's outreach efforts. Before coming to the Museum, he studied molecular phylogenomics and taxonomy of sweat bees for his PhD. In his free time, he enjoys playing guitar and tinkering with cars.