As the only collection of its kind in Iowa, the ISU Insect Collection is a research tool and playground for entomology professors.

Contrary to its name, the Insectary on campus houses only part of the entomology departmental offices and is located on the fourth floor of Science II.

“It’s filled with a lot of gray cabinets, and there’s a fairly noticeable scent of moth balls,” said Ken Holscher, associate professor of entomology. “It’s really more of a research tool.”

While some cringe at the sight of an insect, entomology professors can’t get enough of the pests.

“Growing up on a farm in Nebraska, I liked anything that creeped and crawled, slithered and snaked,” Holscher said.

Greg Courtney, professor of entomology, became interested through his experiences in scuba diving.

“My first aspirations were to study turtles and other aquatic herptiles,” Courtney said.

But after his family moved to Oregon, Courtney started to volunteer in an oceanography lab and marine aquarium, learning scuba diving and underwater photography.

“This led to a strong interest in marine invertebrates,” Courtney said. “I took an aquatic entomology class, followed by summer work experience on Mount St. Helens.”

The relationship between humans and insects and the impact that insects have on humans are both concepts the entomology department tries to identify.

“The enormous impacts to humans implicit in insect diversity, biology, behavior and abundance remain mostly undeveloped and unappreciated by society,” Courtney said.

One of the major values of the ISU Insect Collection lies in the historical records it keeps, especially regarding insect specimens from the habitats of Iowa.

“It and similar museums around the world are essentially historical records of biodiversity,” Courtney said. “Many of these records date back to the 1800s. These historical records can have great value.”

Examining records can sometimes expose indications of whether insect populations have changed. These records may become even more substantial as the world sees the effectsof global climate changes, Courtney said.

Courtney serves as the director of the entomology department’s Insect Zoo, an outreach program that hosts tours and informational sessions to foster an appreciation of insects. His university responsibilities are more research-based, starring a group of aquatic insects native to torrential streams, a focus that takes him around the world to collect and present his specimens.

One unusual species of insect, the Meropeidae, or earwigfly, wasn’t discovered for the record in Iowa until 2001, Courtney said. Since then, more specimens have been found and captured in both the central and southeastern regions of Iowa.

“Interestingly, the larvae and pupae of earwigflies remain unknown, despite many entomologists having devoted considerable time to finding these life stages,” Courtney said.

Iowa State’s bug collection

In 1972, the entomology department split from its zoology counterpart. According to the Insect Collection Synopsis, written by Greg Courtney, professor in entomology, “The collection currently houses more than 1 million pinned specimens and is especially strong in Hemiptera, true bugs, Lepidoptera, butterflies and moths, and Diptera, true flies.”

The pinned collection is supplemented by a multitude of specimens on slides and in fluid vials. The collection serves as the primary source of insects from prairie habitats in Iowa, Courtney said, and it has been made possible by significant contributions from several ISU entomology faculty members.

Courtney’s favorite insect

“Probably the Blephariceridae – net-winged midges,” noting the high adaptation levels of the immature stages of the fly, which has suction discs to attach to rocks in cascades, rapids and waterfalls of steams.