Untitled Document
Agraulis vanillae (dorsal, L, ventral, R) on Lantana (M. Wright).

Insect Museum Collection

The University of Hawai'i Insect Museum serves as a center for insect identification and systematics-based research. The museum has the workspace, equipment, and resources for detailed taxonomic analysis, and researchers from many different laboratories are able to work and interact under its auspices.

A close association with the extensive collections and staff of the Bishop Museum greatly enhances this interactive museum community. The Insect Museum houses extensive native insect collections, which serve as historical records.

Older collection records help establish patterns of decline and disappearance for different insect species, and may help to identify those factors that have led to the declines. The museum also houses synoptic pest collections for most crops of agricultural importance including historical collections indicating the presence, absence and patterns of invasions for newly introduced insects. This part of the collection is invaluable for tracking the spread of new invasive insects and the effectiveness of control efforts for current and historical invasions.

Contact Information
Dr. Daniel Rubinoff
Associate Professor and Director of the UH Insect Museum
Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences
University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Gilmore Hall 310
3050 Maile Way
Honolulu, HI 96822
rubinoff@hawaii.edu
Phone (808) 956-9432
Fax (808) 956-2428

Associate Faculty: Dick Tsuda, Collection Manager, Mark Wright and Dr. Kenneth Kaneshiro
Affiliated Graduate Students: Luc Leblanc, Will Haines
Affiliates:
Specimens: approx. 250,000 Insect specimens
Established: unknown, possibly 1930's

Allied Curriculum:

PEPS 662 Systematics and Phylogenetics (3 credits)
Classification and study of diversity among insects and other life forms. Use of morphological and molecular characters to reconstruct evolutionary histories.