The Purdue Entomological Research Collection is the largest collection of insects in Indiana—over 1.3 million specimens! Housed in @PurdueInsects
Purdue University
Based in United States
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Thanks to Jake Goldner for vouchering specimens from his dissertation research—nearly 1,700 Ebony Jewelwing damselflies (Calopteryx maculata) with digitized data!
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While sorting, moving, & rehousing part of our slide collection this week we came across these intricate brown lacewing wings (Neuroptera: Hemerobiidae) #PERCBugs
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A "fuzzy" fungus weevil, Toxonotus fascicularis (Schönherr 1833), collected in 1919 by W.S. Blatchley from Cape Sable, Florida #PERCBugs #WeevilWednesday
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An unidentified CA weevil collected in 1888—on the pin you see a type of vivid green corrosion called verdigris—a reaction between the metals used in very old pins & drawer microclimate —can be a serious problem, but only a tiny % of our specimens are impacted #PERCBugs
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We are excited to share our new logo—featuring Nicrophorus americanus, once "frequent" in Indiana, today no longer found in the state, highlighting the importance of collections work!
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A beautiful bee from our collection—a male Agapostemon splendens (Halictidae)—appropriately named!
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Here’s a snippet of the typed keys, w/ annotations! Meyers donated his collection of insects, including many flies, to the PERC
This week we found an old, typed & hand-drawn copy of the Dolichopodidae keys & figures from Curran’s (1934) “Families and genera of North American Diptera,” probably compiled by R.W. Meyers—compare w/ the original figure here: biodiversitylibrary.org/page…
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Troxler’s collection of an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 specimens, many from southern Indiana & northern Kentucky, was donated to Purdue in 1944, forty years after his death, by two of his grandchildren (excerpt from the Journal & Courier)
From our collection—a Falcate Orangetip (Anthocharis midea) collected 121 years ago by Constantine Troxler, a “Veteran Shoe Dealer And An Entomologist of Reputation—A Native of Germany” (from an obituary in The Courier Journal 1904) #PERCBugs
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Io moth vouchers collected this week in Tippecanoe County, expertly prepared by PERC volunteer Sol!
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Specimens from our collection were featured in the @purdueexponent's story about #BroodX! Read the story online here: purdueexponent.org/campus/ar… #PERCBugs
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Since it’s #BugBowl30’s Spider Day we wanted to share some often overlooked PERC specimens—a collection of spiders, voucher specimens for “An Annotated List of the Spiders of Indiana” by Thomas A. Parker (1969) #PERCBugs
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While the majority of our holdings are from Indiana, we do have specimens from outside state or the U.S.—like this tiger beetle from Uyo, Nigeria, collected in 1964 by R.W. Meyer. #PERCBugs Photo by @AgeOfArthropods
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Ok, one more—a photo of McCafferty & Provonsha in the PERC, when it was located in Old Entomology Hall
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In 1971 Pat McCafferty & Arwin Provonsha were hired as director & curator. Over the next ~40 years they added >500,000 specimens! B/c of their efforts & acquisitions the PERC is the largest & ~most significant collection of mayflies (Ephemeroptera) in the world #PERCHistory 4/4
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While entomological teaching collections existed at Purdue from 1876–1877, these have not survived & the PERC traces its beginnings to the purchase of the Ashton’s collection in 1896 by Dept head James Troop #BugBowl30 #PERCHistory 1/4
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Our oldest (labeled) bugs from Indiana are butterflies collected in 1885-1890 by W.S. Blatchley—they are 136 to 131 years old! These are vouchers from Blatchley’s M.S. thesis, published in 1892: archive.org/details/catalogu… #PERCBugs
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It’s day 3 of #BugBowl30—Insect Museum Day! Let’s start w/ some trivia—we are often asked about the oldest bugs in our collection—they are at least 153 years old! This cerambycid is one of our historic specimens, collected in New York by T.B. Ashton before 1868! #PERCBugs
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From our collection: This male 17-year periodical cicada emerged 119 years ago—and hatched from an egg laid in 1885—so it’s 136 years old! #BugBowl30 #BroodX #PERCBugs Photograph by @AgeOfArthropods
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Hello Twitter—we've got lots of great bugs to share! These are wings of Calopteryx maculata, the Ebony Jewelwing #Odonata. Slide prepared in 19[?]2 by B.E. Montgomery. (Cleaned & scanned by @AgeOfArthropods)
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