Events & Outreach

Busy as bees

 

It’s only mid-January, and the Triplehorn Insect Collection 2016 calendar is already getting crowded. So I started laying out the events and activities that are coming up. Here’s the scoop:

January 29 – Deadline for the 2016 Museum Open House T-Shirt Design Contest

2016 T-Shirt Design Contest

2016 T-Shirt Design Contest

One of the perks of volunteering to help with the Museum Open House is the volunteer t-shirt.  Since 2006, volunteers have received a unique t-shirt, designed especially for the year’s event.  The t-shirt is both practical (easy to identify the people working on the event) and so very cool (only the people who work in the event have it.)

In 2008, ‘Alien Invaders‘ became the first theme associated with the Museum Open House. T-shirt designs and colors changed over the years. Every volunteer has their preferred t-shirt and many of us take pride in having the complete set of Museum Open House t-shirts.

The theme for the 2016 Museum Open House is Living Colors, addressing the role of colors in nature. This year OSU students are invited to participate of the t-shirt creation process by entering their design idea in the Museum Open House T-Shirt Design Contest. And the winner will get an Apple Watch, plus a t-shirt! Deadline is January 29. There’s still time to participate!

April 23 – Museum Open House #MBDOH2016

As I mentioned on a previous post, the Museum Open House is getting a face-lift that includes moving to a later date to take advantage of the (hopefully) warmer weather & adding outdoor activities.  If the trend continues, we expect to break records again in the number of visitors, and we are trying to prepare for that.  Planning for the #MBDOH2016 started back in October 2015, and will pick up speed in the next several weeks. Follow our progress on Facebook and Twitter by using the event’s hashtag. Here are some photos of the Triplehorn collection activities during the Museum Open House. Many more are available on our Facebook photo albums. Check it out!

View of the Triplehorn collection during 2008 Museum Open House.
View of the Triplehorn collection during 2008 Museum Open House.
Art work produced by a young visitor in 2013.
Art work produced by a young visitor in 2013.
Mexican jumping beans are a huge hit.
Mexican jumping beans are a huge hit.
In 2014 students from Columbus College of Art and Design volunteered to help.
In 2014 students from Columbus College of Art and Design volunteered to help.
Grad student volunteers from the Dept. of Entomology.
Grad student volunteers from the Dept. of Entomology.

June 27 to July 1 – Insect Summer Camp

One thing we’ve learned from the Open House is that there are a lot of people, particularly kids, that are just over the top about insects and eager to learn more. To address this need, this summer we’ll have an insect summer camp: a 5-day camp (just during the day, not overnight!) targeted at middle school students. We want to work with the students to help them learn about what insects there are, how they’re put together, what they do (both the good and the bad), and how to make an insect collection. In addition to collecting, we’re arranging interesting visits and other activities. We’re working closely with the Department of Entomology and the Ohio 4-H in developing the camp. Enrollment will be limited, so if you’re interested keep a close watch on the collection’s Facebook page to sign up when the time comes.

September 24-25 – Entomological Collections Network Meeting

The ECN is a long-standing organization dedicated to the support and dissemination of information about and for entomological collections. Membership is open to anyone interested in the subject. Each year the ECN meeting brings together collection curators (like me!), managers, and users from all over the world to discuss community advancements, report on curation and collections-based research projects, etc. ECN meetings are held on the weekend before the Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America.

September 25-30 – XXV International Congress of Entomology 

ICE is the premier international event for entomologists and is held every four years.  The 2016 event will be hosted by the Entomological Society of America in sunny Orlando, FL.  More than 6,000 entomologists from all over the world are expected to participate.

We plan to submit our curatorial and specimen databasing work for presentation at ECN and ICE.

Besides these events, we will continue working on ongoing curatorial projects and activities, mainly:

Beetle Curation — Tenebrionidae specimen databasing: So far we have added 16,383 teneb specimens to the database (mostly between June and December 2015.)  That’s roughly 3 of our cabinets, so 7 more to go. Anyone interested in volunteering a few hours a week to help us out is more than welcome!

List of Coleoptera species in the collection: A list may not sound very impressive, but that is a very useful tool for our curatorial staff.  It’s also a laborious and tedious task which involves deciphering cryptic handwriting and/or very small typed text (ask Lauralee an Alex about that.)  Our very preliminary list of beetles contains about 13,000 species names. Based on our experience with the beetle families that we have already curated, it’s safe to say that our list of beetle species will grow significantly as we inventory the collection.

Incorporation of the Parshall Butterfly Collection — Before we can add the new donation to the general collection, all the specimen boxes and drawers need to be frozen as a preventive pest control measure. Freezing (-20 to -40°C for several days) will kill any live pests that might be hiding in the drawers. As drawers are freeze-treated and added to the general collection, and as time and funds allow, we will be inventorying and cataloging them.

200+ butterfly drawers will be placed in freezer for preventive pest control.

200+ butterfly drawers will be placed in freezer for preventive pest control.

Training personnel — Last year several undergrad student assistants graduated and left.  In addition, two of our volunteers and interns concluded their term with us and left as well.  By mid-2016 we will go through even more personnel changes as Matt Elder (after 5 years working here with us) and Katherine Beigel both graduate and head out into the world. These two students will be a tough act to follow, but that’s the nature of universities: students graduate. We expect to hire new students in the next few months to be trained and to work on specimen databasing, imaging, and curation in general.

Training of new student assistants takes between 4 to 6 months for those working 10 hours per week. Our newest hires, Martha Drake and Rachel McLaughlin, two Entomology majors that started with us last semester, are back to work after the school break and are making very good progress.

We also have a new volunteer! Jan Nishimura has just joined us this week. Welcome, Jan! She will be receiving training on handling specimens and basic curatorial skills so she can help us accomplish our goals for the year.

Service to the community — Last but not least, we serve the community by providing access to the collection for both study and outreach. We offer qualified individuals the options of borrowing specimens or coming in to examine the specimens here. We can also provide data and images upon request. We welcome groups and individuals, on an appointment basis, for guided tours of the collection.

The new year came full of challenges, but full of possibilities as well. We are embracing it, keeping very busy, and relishing the chance to discover something new or beautiful each and every day.

 

About the Authors: Dr. Luciana Musetti is an Entomologist and the Curator of the Triplehorn Insect Collection. Dr. Norman Johnson is the Director of the Triplehorn Insect Collection. He made a significant contribution to the post and shares the authorship.

Impressions from the BioPresence art exhibit

 

There is still time (until Wed., Dec 16th) to visit the BioPresence, Department of Art, Art + Technology art exhibition at the Hopkins Hall gallery on OSU campus; the show is about noticing and sensing all the living things on The Ohio State University campus and in the local urban environment.

Here are some of the installations you do not want to miss:

Note: The captions do not reflect the actual titles of the art pieces but are interpretations of this post’s author.

 

 

 

About the author: Angelika Nelson is curator of the Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics at The Ohio State University and is one of the PIs of the project BioPresence, raising awareness of non-human animals on campus.

Museum Open House Photo Album

 

With the 12th Museum Open House coming up on April 23, 2016, I thought it would be fun and instructive to look back at the previous events. I asked everyone in the building to share their photos and here are some of the best. I hope you will enjoy.

In case you would like to learn more about our Museum Open House, please visit the event page on the MBD website. We are building a historic record of our Open House and have already added a brief summary page for seven of the previous eleven iterations of the event.

2005 – 2006 – 2007

 

Robin Taylor and Woody Foster in the Tetrapod Collection. 2005
Tom Watters (right) with visitor at the Mollusc Collection, 2005
John Spohn, OSU alum, volunteering in the Triplehorn Insect Collection. 2006
Visitors appreciate butterfly displays at the Triplehorn Insect Collection. 2006
Chuck Triplehorn with young entomologist. 2006
Hans Klompen with young visitor looking at mites under the microscope. 2006
Joe Cora with young visitor at the Triplehorn Insect Collection. 2007
Tom Hetherington and son examine bugs in goo at the Triplehorn Insect Collection. 2007
Zeynep Benderlioglu and family check out the first animal sound kiosk of the Borror Lab. 2007
Interactive animal sound kiosk at the Tetrapod Collection. 2007

 

2008 Alien Invaders | 2009 Voyages of Discovery

 

Light box with images of various insects at the Triplehorn Collection. 2008
Super hero stopped by the Triplehorn Insect Collection to check out the tiny wasps on display. 2008
Chuck Triplehorn and some of the displays of the Triplehorn Insect Collection. 2008
Butterfly displays prepared by Sara Hemly. 2008
Animal sound kiosk on display by the Borror Lab in the Auditorium. 2009
Volunteer Tom Silver answering questions by visitor. 2009
Grad student volunteer Elijah Talamas with young visitor at the Bug Drawing Table. 2009
Rich Bradley talking spiders with visitors. 2009
Rich Bradley addresses visitor’s questions about spiders. 2009

 

2010 Symbiosis |  2011 Extreme Biodiversity

 

Large banner welcomes Museum Open House visitors. 2010
Scenery outside of the Museum on the day of the Open House. 2010
Theme “Symbiosis” display in the Auditorium. 2010
Student volunteer Erica Szeyller in the auditorium. 2010
Visitor at the Triplehorn Insect Collection, with Norman Johnson. 2010
Cheetah skeleton in the Tetrapod collection. 2010
Examining insect displays from above. 2011
Visitors check out an insect display in the Triplehorn collection. 2011
Insect drawing by one of the Triplehorn Insect Collection volunteers. 2011
Theme “Extreme Biodiversity” display in the Auditorium. 2011
Tom Watters with visitors at the Mollusc collection. 2011
The Bug Drawing Table in the Triplehorn Insect Collection. 2011

 

From the 2012 Museum Open House on, the number of photos available skyrockets. There are so many great images! I’ll have to continue sorting through the lot and later add another post with more photos.

By the way, did you see yourself or somebody you know on the photos?  If yes, please drop me a note to let me know. I’m trying to annotate the photos as I go along for future record. Thank you!

 

About the Author: Dr. Luciana Musetti is the Curator of the Tripehorn Insect Collection and a wannabe photographer.

Photo credits: This batch of photos came from ASC Communications (2005), Rich Bradley (spider displays), Luciana Musetti and Charuwat Taekul (Triplehorn Insect Collection), Angelika Nelson (Borror Lab, Tetrapod Collection, Auditorium, Outdoors)

 

Museum Open House 2.0

 

Mark your calendars: 2016 Museum Open House – Saturday, April 23rd

Those who are familiar with the Museum of Biological Diversity Open House have probably heard say that we are the largest outreach event in the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio State. That’s a delight for the people who put the event together, and a big responsibility too.

The Open House started way back in 2005 with a two-day special event celebrating the Museum and the university’s biological collections. The program started on Friday, April 29, with lectures from various Museum alumni, from ichthyologists to botanists to entomologists, and continued with a reception and dedication of the OSU Insect Collection in honor of its long time curator, Dr. C. A. Triplehorn. The first day of the program closed with a lecture by Dr. Peter Raven entitled “How Many Species Will Survive the 21st Century?”

Speakers at the 2005 Museum celebration

Speakers at the 2005 Museum celebration

On Saturday afternoon the Museum opened its doors and welcomed the public for guided tours of the facility and hands-on activities. The event was a success and motivated the people in the Museum to hold an Open House the next year, and the next, and on for the past 11 years.

As the event grew, new activities were added, more volunteers joined in, and our audience increased.  Over the last three years (2013-2015) the event attendance more than doubled. We welcomed over 2,700 visitors in 2015. That’s an average of 450 people per hour for a 6 hour event — a manageable number, assuming that the audience is evenly distributed throughout the total hours of the event. However, that’s not the case: most of the Open House visitors come in between 11AM and 2PM, only three hours. During this period we reached a peak of more than 700 people in the building at one time. That turned out to be a bit too cozy for comfort.

View of the Museum auditorium during the 2014 Open House

View of the Museum auditorium during the 2014 Open House

 

Our enthusiastic visitors tell us they would like less crowds and suggest a two-day event, or maybe more than one Open House a year. We wish we could, friends, we really do, but we cannot. We don’t have the staff or the resources to hold more than the one day Open House each year.

Because we do not have dedicated display areas, in order to welcome our guests during Open House, we have to free up space and move furniture and equipment that are normally used for research and curation. After the event, we need to put all that stuff back in place before we can return to our daily work routine.

Setting up a display at the Triplehorn Insect Collection

Setting up a display at the Triplehorn Insect Collection

In the insect collection, which is what I know best, it takes us roughly 2 months to plan and prepare displays and activities for the yearly Open House, plus one week to move furniture, do some cleaning, and set up displays, plus one week to take everything down and put it all away.

And there’s the toll on our people, the Museum staff and the dedicated volunteers that make the Open House the amazing event it is. For us, Open House is an exhilarating experience: we plan it, we work really hard to make it happen, we’re proud of it. On the day of the event we get up early and we spend at least 6 hours straight standing on our feet, talking, running activities, interacting with our guests. We love it, we give it all we have, but at the end of the afternoon we’re completely and utterly exhausted, our feet hurt, our voices are gone … and there’s still work to be done after the doors close.

In response to the success of the event, and the consequent overcrowding, and taking into consideration our own limitations, we decided to try something different for next year. If we cannot hold longer, or multiple Open Houses, we thought we would hold the event a little later in the year to avoid the cold and the snow and move some of the activities outside.

We picked Saturday, April 23rd as the date for the 2016 Museum Open House. Some of the hands-on activities that do not involve fragile museum specimens will be set up at the large Museum front yard, while our weather-sensitive specimens, displays, and activities will be available in the auditorium and in the collections.

Will this new formula work for our event? We hope it will, but the proof is in the pudding. So please plan on joining us this spring, April 23, (the day after Earth Day!), to learn more about our Museum, our impressive collections, and about the breathtaking biodiversity of the world we live in.

 

About the Author: Dr. Luciana Musetti is Curator of the C. A. Triplehorn Insect Collection.

Not only the canary in the coal mine

Do you want to find out what birds tell us about our environment? How do they (maybe) cope with environmental modifications that we challenge them with? How do they make their amazing migrations over thousands of miles when the world around them changes? How do they perceive brightly lit cities at night?

The messenger - bird documentary

Bird documentary at the Gateway film center

The documentary “The messenger” tries to find answers to these and many more questions that scientific studies tracking migrating birds have brought up.

The tetrapods collection was involved in the Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative project “Lights Out Columbus” which contributed to these data. It documented bird casualties in downtown Columbus because many migrating birds hit illuminated windows at night. Volunteers walked the streets in the mornings and recorded and collected bird casualties at the base of tall buildings. The birds were prepared into museum skins and now “live” as specimens in our museum collection. It was eye-opening to see the numbers and diversity of birds that are affected: Ruby-throated Hummingbird, American Woodcock, Wood Thrush, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Yello Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Indigo Bunting … the list goes on and on and you can bet that your favorite bird is on there too.

The 1hour 33minute documentary will be shown at the Gateway film center on Friday December 4th at 7pm as well as on Saturday and Sunday at 2pm.

About the Author: Dr. Angelika Nelson is curator of the Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics.

Art meets science at the natural history museum

 

When you walk into the tetrapods collection at the OSU Museum of Biological Diversity a typical reaction is to “Ohhh” and “Ahh” over the specimens around you.

Northern Cardinal - plate in Birds of America by John James Audubon

Plate of the Northern Cardinal, Ohio state bird, from Birds of America by John James Audubon

Depending on your background though you may be amazed by the scientific value of these specimens (some date from the late 1800s as indicated on their labels) or you may see the artistic beauty with which some of these specimens have been preserved. Many of the early naturalists who collected specimens were artists and natural history collections have inspired artists ever since. For example, the beautiful drawings of the birds of America by the well-known American ornithologist John James Audubon.

These artworks are not only beautiful to look at, they have a scientific purpose: they provide evidence of new species described in the field and depicted in detail. Similarly field notebooks of scientists are full of drawings and illustrations, but it can be hard to capture detailed features of fast moving animals. Thus the study of preserved specimens in a museum setting has advantages and can lead to some beautiful artwork. The perfect synergy between science and art at a museum.

Drawing of a Hooded Pitohui by Stephanie Nelson

Painting of a Hooded Pitohui by EEOB graduate student Stephanie Nelson (c) 2015

 

The role of art in natural history collections has changed over time. During the Victorian era (1837 – 1901) the study of natural history was very popular and naturalists along with museums developed new ways to showcase their findings and make science accessible to people. Many private collectors preserved animals and plants and artfully displayed them at their homes to impress guests. Later some of these private collection would materialize into the natural history collections that exist today.

Victorian Era Specimens on Display at the Ohio History Connection.

Angelika Nelson next to a Victorian Era Display case with specimens at the Ohio History Connection.

In the late 19th century naturalists called for the help of artists as they started placing animals into a background of their natural environment: the natural history diorama was born. These displays are characterized by 2- and 3-dimensional elements such as a background painting depicting the habitat of the animals and taxidermied mounts of birds and other creatures placed in the foreground.

Some of the original dioramas have been preserved and you may be lucky to see one during your next museum visit. But even in today’s technological age displaying specimens in an apparently natural setting, i.e. in front of a painting of natural habitat can bring back the charm of old days. For a visual treat and to learn more about native Ohio species visit the Beaver Creek Wildlife education center in East Liverpool, Ohio.

Student showing off her texture drawing of a skull

Student showing off her drawing of a skull

Even in a place where we do not artfully show off specimens to the public, art can meet science. Today’s artists, too, are aware of the treasure trove natural history collections present. Bring in a textual artist and they will admire the textures of nature, the smooth egg shell, the feathery bird, the wrinkled skin on a bird’s leg, the smooth surface of a bone. Over the years numerous students in OSU art classes have explored the artistic value of our specimens and many were inspired.

Art has changed over the years and today technology is an important element in creating artworks. We have embraced this in our latest project in collaboration with artists here at OSU: BioPresence aims to document animals that we share our spaces with on campus. Everyone is encouraged to take a photo (or make a drawing if this post has inspired you) of an animal that you encounter on campus and post it on a social media site with #animalOSU.

This project will culminate in an art exhibit on campus and in town during early December. Details will follow soon!

About the Authors: Dr. Angelika Nelson is curator of the Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics; her research interests are in acoustic behavior and female choice in songbirds; she teaches a course on Ohio Birds at OSU each spring.

Stephanie Malinich is the Collection Manager for the Tetrapod Collection.

Smile!! Imaging in the Acarology collection

 

Velvet mite, <i>Leptus</i> sp. (photo Rich Bradley)

Velvet mite, Leptus sp. (photo Rich Bradley)

Working with small organisms such as mites presents some interesting problems.  One of those is getting folks interested in just thinking about something they usually cannot see.  Of course a few mites are big enough to see and critters like ticks, velvet mites and water mites do enjoy some “popularity”.  But for most mites we have only fairly bad photographs of crushed specimens on slides (often good for seeing specific characters, but horrible for outreach).  Without nice images, we can still go for gross (I do admit that I occasionally enjoy going that route), with disgusting images of humans with scabies (Sarcoptes scabiei), or sad looking plants covered in spider mite silk, but it is not the same.  And it really does not do much for improving the image of mites.  Plus, most mites do not do any significant damage.  So how should we present the “real” mites?

Let’s start with the high-tech approach.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was the first good option.  Because of the high depth of field, SEM gives very nice, 3-D images at very high magnification.  It works well for highly sclerotized mites (oribatid adults, uropodids) but it is less successful with small, soft-bodied species because most SEM techniques require critical point drying, which makes those soft bodied mites shrivel into ugly blobs.  Using live mites can alleviate that problem but (a) most SEM operators do not like it (it introduces humidity into the machine and may damage it) and (b) mites are often not cooperative.  As a beginning graduate student I had the option of putting some live sarcoptid mites in an SEM.  The specimens were on sticky tape and everything looked great as the SEM got close to vacuum.  However – there is always a “however” in these stories – just before we could get our first images the last of the great looking mites managed one more spurt of energy, and fell over, exposing nothing but its sticky stuff covered underside.  That took care of my hopes for great pictures.

Leg of <i>Osperalycus tenerphagus</i>, LT-SEM

Leg of Osperalycus tenerphagus, LT-SEM, colorized image

Low Temperature SEM (LT-SEM), uses liquid nitrogen to flash freeze the mites (no critical point drying), allowing views of live mites frozen in time.  This completely bypasses the shriveling problems of standard SEM with stunning results.  The folks at the USDA in Beltsville, MD, have generated some beautiful images of plant feeding mites.  Sam Bolton, graduate student in acarology, worked with them to get the images of his “dragon mite”.  Add some color (based on images of the mite taken before going into the SEM) and we end up with poster-worthy pictures.

Even LT-SEM has limitations, as we can only see surface structures.  We are overcoming that limitation by using confocal laser scanning microscopy.  With this technique you can also see internal structures, and with the right software, you can construct 3-D images that can be sliced any way you wish.  Not quite as detailed as Synchroton X-ray microtomography, but that technique requires a particle accelerator the size of a football field, and at this point only one (in Grenoble, France) seems to be set up to handle images of mites.  Confocal microscopy is great for research, but 3-D printing of the models also makes for excellent teaching tools (or gift store items).

A Confocal 3-D model of <i>Daidalotarsonemus</i> sp. B 3-D print of the same

A Confocal 3-D model of Daidalotarsonemus sp. B 3-D print of the same

Of course all of those techniques require highly specialized and expensive equipment.  For day-to-day use we use an automated compound microscope and image stacking software to generate images that are both relatively detailed and retain some color.  These tools finally allow generation of well-focused detailed images of very small organisms and structures.  Unfortunately we do lose some of the 3-D effects in the process of image stacking, but on a good day, these images are publication quality.

For more hands-on displays, mites can be viewed on a 40 inch TV-screen using a video camera connected to a compound or dissecting microscope. This is wonderful for teaching (6-12 people can all watch what you are seeing in the microscope), research (sometimes the image on the TV is more detailed than the one you get through the eyepieces of the microscope itself), and of course outreach.  We use that set-up at the annual Museum Open House to show live mites in detail.

Mite on TV as used for teaching

Mite on TV

With enough technology, mites are coming out of the deep and dark, and into the light, where they of course belong.  We are slowly generating more high quality images and making them available through the collection database.  Check it out, the small can be beautiful.

About the Author: Dr. Hans Klompen is professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology and Director of the Ohio State University Acarology Collection.

 

Up close and personal: insects and molluscs

 

Here’s one question I get frequently from visitors: “Why, oh, why, isn’t the Museum of Biological Diversity open to everyone every day?” That’s a very good question! Here’s an answer. Unlike institutions such as the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, the Carnegie Museum, or our neighbor the Cleveland Museum among others, our museum largely grew out of a background of higher education and research.  We have a different structure and a different mission than these other very fine institutions.  The most visible outcome of these differences is the fact that we don’t have large display areas and exhibits. We also do not have staff dedicated to public outreach. But it’s good to keep in mind that the MBD collections vary in the kinds of services they provide to the community. Each is unique in it’s own way.

My little corner of the MBD is the Triplehorn Insect Collection. We are a research facility and most of our specimens are only accessible to professional scientists and scientists in training (graduate students, postdoctoral associates, etc.)  This policy gets me in trouble with a lot of people who love insects and would like to come in to “see” (many times that means “touch”) the collection.  So, before anyone else gets hot under the collar about that, let’s try to understand what that policy means.

Dried insect specimens are as fragile as they are colorful and beautiful. The more they are handled and exposed to light and humidity, the faster and more likely they are to get damaged.  The insect specimens in the Triplehorn collection are the result of more than 100 years of careful collecting and curation, many of them were collected in forests and meadows and prairies that do not exist anymore. These specimens are, literally, irreplaceable, and it is our responsibility to keep them intact for many more long years.

Aquatic beetles.

Aquatic beetles. Part of the holdings of the Triplehorn Insect Collection.

 

Because of that, we restrict access to the specimens to only the people who must use them for scientific study, professionals who have lots of experience with museum specimens and therefore are less likely to damage our precious charges. As the curator of the collection, it is my responsibility to protect and preserve the specimens for the long run. To do that I have to enforce the “restricted access” policy.

Now, the fact that we are a research collection does not mean we don’t welcome visitors.  Quite the contrary! We are committed to sharing our knowledge and love of biodiversity with everyone interested.  While we don’t have exhibits per se, we frequently and happily provide tours of the collection to people from the local community. Or even not so local: our audience is wide and varied, from k-12 to university classes, to family or neighborhood groups, to homeschool groups, to citizen scientists and individuals interested in local and global insect diversity.

 

Up to now we have been scheduling visits as requests come in and our time allows, but starting this month we in the insect collection will be teaming up with our colleagues in the Mollusc Division of the MBD to offer guided tours of the two collections to the general public on set dates.  This initiative comes as a response to the increased interest in the collections, demonstrated by the increase in visit requests.

Tours will still be arranged in advance, but by specifying which days are open for tours we hope to make the whole process a bit easier and more predictable. The set dates might not work for all visitors, but by working together and establishing a structure for tour activities, we hope to continue serving the community without drastically increasing the work-load of our already overworked staff.

 

The next available dates for insect collection/mollusc collection joint tours are Friday, October 23rd and Friday, November 6th, from 1pm to 4pm. Total estimated tour time for the two collections is between 45 min to 1 hour/group. Group size limit is 20 adults.  For more information or to schedule a guided tour, please contact Tom Watters or Luciana Musetti.

 

About the Author: Dr. Luciana Musetti is an entomologist and Curator of the C.A. Triplehorn Insect Collection.