Entomology Collection
The Entomology Collection houses approximately 2 million insects and arachnids. It is one of the top 20 collections of this type in North America and represents one of only three holdings of Great Plains material. Although acquisitions from the Great Plains and Neotropics are emphasized, the collection contains material from all over the world. We also currently maintain the national collection of scarab beetles from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, housed here for a lengthy period of off-site enhancement.
Explore the Collection
UNSM's entomology collection features 2 million pinned, fluid-preserved, papered, and slide mounted insects and arachnids. We have ongoing research programs dealing with the systematics of Neotropical scarabaeoid beetles. Although acquisitions from the Great Plains and Neotropics are emphasized, the collections contain material from all over the world. Special holdings in the Division include Lawrence Bruner's Orthoptera (largely Neotropical), Myron Swenk's Hymenoptera, the Worley and Pickwell spider collection, the Ron Rivers donation of New Guinea butterflies, the Ken Fender synoptic collection of North American Cantharidae, the Dodge Engleman collection of Panamanian Pentatomidae, the Nebraska Department of Environmental Control's extensive voucher collections resulting from their surveys of aquatic habitats, and the Neotropical Coleoptera currently being added by the present staff. The orders best represented in the collection are Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, and Diptera.
Contact Us:
Curator: MJ Paulsen
402-472-2664
Visiting Researchers: Please email the curator to arrange a time for your visit.