With over 35 million specimens, the Smithsonian insect collection is one of the largest entomological collections in the world. Specimens and their associated data are used as the basis for original collections-based research on the taxonomy, life history, geography, and evolutionary history of insects, arachnids, and myriapods. The collections are world-wide in scope and …

Home Our Research Entomology Collections Overview With over 35 million specimens, the Smithsonian insect collection is one of the largest entomological collections in the world.

The Department of Entomology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History holds one of the finest insect collections in the world. The official abbreviation for citing this museum as a repository is USNM, which stems from the museum's original name, the United States National Museum.

The Department of Entomology combines a vibrant research community with an insect collection that serves as the core for collections-based research in both basic and applied fields of study.

Research in the Department of Entomology is primarily collection-based and focuses on systematics in the broadest sense, including basic taxonomy, comparative morphology, and life history of insects, as well as evolutionary and population biology, phylogenetics, biogeography, biodiversity, ecology, behavior, and molecular and genomic studies.

For general information about the entomology collection, please contact Floyd Shockley, Entomology Collections Manager. e-mail: ShockleyF@si.edu

Hannah Wood Research Entomologist and Curator of Arachnida and Myriapoda Entomology

Home Our Research Entomology Collections Overview Lepidoptera The Lepidoptera Collection has over 4 million specimens, occupying over 30,000 drawers and 3,000 alcohol jars. It includes 25,000 primary types. The collection has the most complete representation of both larvae (123,000 specimens) and adults in the Western Hemisphere.

I am an Associate Curator of Entomology and Museum Advisor at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History (Tel Aviv University). Recently I have been updating my long interest in the rediscovery and conservation of Donacia species in Israel, as well as the Chrysomelidae there.

Home Our Research Entomology Collections Overview AntLab Research in the Smithsonian AntLab largely focuses on the systematics, phylogenetics, and biodiversity of ants (family Formicidae). Two main themes run through most of our research: