The McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity represents the largest collections-based research and education center in the world focused on butterflies and moths. The collections are taxonomically comprehensive and contain more than 10 million specimens, which are widely used by an ever-growing global community of students and scientists. The Center documents past and present patterns of biological diversity and forms the basis for research ranging from climate change and emerging agricultural pests, to evolution and biodiversity conservation.
Take a Video Tour of the McGuire Center
The Center also houses a large visitor gallery with public-facing laboratories and the Butterfly Rainforest, a flagship exhibit that showcases hundreds of free-flying butterflies from around the globe in a truly immersive nature experience.
Latest Research
Akito Kawahara named director of McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity
The Florida Museum of Natural History has named Akito Kawahara as the new director of the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera…
Butterfly tree of life reveals an origin in North America
About 100 million years ago, a group of trendsetting moths started flying during the day rather than at night, taking…
Family tree of ‘boring’ butterflies shows they’re anything but
Walk a short distance through the Amazon Rainforest, and you might witness what look like dead leaves launch from the…
See more Lepidoptera research…
McGuire Center News
American Moth-butterflies
Hedylidae, commonly known as American Moth-butterflies, is a small, little-known family of Lepidoptera. This tropical family, restricted to Central and…
Research Highlights – Spring 2023
McGuire Center staff and students had a productive spring semester. Juliette Rubin from the Kawahara Lab completed her Ph.D., and…
Student Spotlight: Sarah Steele Cabrera
Sarah Steele Cabrera is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in Interdisciplinary Ecology at the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE),…