Renovation of the Lepidoptera Collection at Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will improve and enhance the lepidopteran collections at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The entomological collections are scientific resources of international significance, containing 6.9 million prepared specimens with about 6 million unprepared. Among New World collections, it has the second largest collections of Lepidoptera and the most diverse collection of Afrotropical insects. More than 60% of the historical Lepidoptera collection remains in unaccptable, precarious housing, and is jeopardizing specimen integrity. The two year project will rehouse those portions of the historical Lepidoptera collection by providing acceptable storage for more than half of the specimens, providing conservation of specimens of exceptional scientific calue or concern, and providing sorting and preliminary curation of Lepidoptera families represented by high numbers of prepared but unsorted specimens.