The UAM Insect collection is the northern-most facility of its kind in the United States. It has the potential to become a world-class depository for dry and preserved-tissue samples of northern arthropods, primarily from Alaska.

Although a young collection, we have recently surpassed 120,000 cataloged specimens / lots. At least one specimen of every lowest identification, in both the pinned and wet collections, has been databased. 61,099 specimens have been identified to the species level - these represent 2,354 species (23% are apparent new records for the state). Coleoptera, Odonata, and Hymenoptera are the most well-curated groups. Lepidoptera are being sorted currently (2011). Diptera is our largest group and currently in the greatest need of attention. Steve Peek, a research associate of the collection, has been working on fly identifications to help with this enormous curatorial challenge.

Volunteers

If you have a few hours a week and would like to volunteer in the Entomology Department please contact the Curator, Derek Sikes.

Donations

If you are thinking of starting a project that will produce insect specimens which you would like to donate, please contact the Curator to discuss details such as which pins to use if you are pinning specimens (stainless #3 are highly recommended) and how to record latitude / longitude for your labels. See the section devoted to donations.

Specimen Data

Search the Insect Collection Database, ARCTOS, or

go straight to specimens records with images

Note: online data are currently incomplete. An additional 70,000 specimen records exist in an offline database that can be queried via email communication with the curator. These records are being vetted and will be uploaded into ARCTOS.


Derek S. Sikes         
Curator of Insects
University of Alaska Museum
907 474 6278
dssikes 'at' alaska.edu