We’re heading to the brewery to celebrate spooky season! Sip special beer at First Magnitude Brewing Co. while checking out wild looking bugs, ancient bones and museum treasures. Come in costume for this special Halloween event!

First Magnitude will release a special hazy India pale ale with jalapeno peppers called “Hickory Horned Devil Hazy IPA,” highlighting the Hickory Horned Devil moth for this fundraising event.

Event highlights

Browse fabulous fossils of prehistoric monsters like saber-toothed cats, giant “hell pigs,” and Titanoboa, the world’s largest snake, from our vertebrate paleontology collection and check out not-so-creepy crawlers with our Daniels Lab researchers. See preserved amphibians with weird and wacky adaptations from our herpetology collection. Chat with the UF Thompson Earth Systems Institute team and test your wits in short rounds of spooky trivia for a chance to win fun prizes! Merchandise will also be available for purchase.

10% of each can sold will directly support imperiled butterfly recovery efforts in Florida.

Conservation at home

The hickory horned devil caterpillar is the larva of the regal or royal walnut moth, Citheronia regalis. They look fierce but are harmless. Like most caterpillars, they live on their host plants and eat until they are ready to pupate and turn into a butterfly or moth. Conservation of Florida’s insect biodiversity includes preserving wild spaces and providing their required host plants.

Explore more

• Learn more about at-risk butterfly conservation work in our Daniels Lab
• Unsure how to help reverse insect declines? Scientists suggest simple ways
• Online guide to Florida’s 50 most common native wildflowers and butterflies