Four new species of plume moths discovered in Bahamas
Deborah Matthews hunts for plume moths in darkness, waiting for the halo of her headlamp to catch a brief flicker….Read More
Meet the butterflies breaking into the brewing business
The frosted elfin is a small brown butterfly about the size of a nickel. Despite its unremarkable appearance, this rare…Read More
Akito Kawahara named UF Research Foundation professor
The University of Florida Research Foundation has named Florida Museum of Natural History researcher Akito Kawahara a UFRF Professor for 2019-2022….Read More
New butterfly named for pioneering 17th-century entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian
More than three centuries before initiatives to increase the number of women in STEM fields, 52-year-old Maria Sibylla Merian sailed…Read More
Florida monarch butterfly populations have dropped 80 percent since 2005
A 37-year survey of monarch populations in North Central Florida shows that caterpillars and butterflies have been declining since 1985…Read More
Hollow trees host massive moth slumber parties
Unlike social insects such as bees and ants, moths are generally loners. So, when Florida Museum of Natural History lepidopterist…Read More
Moths with larger hindwings and longer tails are best at deflecting bats
Each night, dramatic aerial battles are waged above our heads, complete with barrel rolls, razor-sharp turns, sonar jamming, cloaking devices…Read More
Houses of silk, poop and plants: Meet the sack-bearer moths
Ryan St Laurent, a doctoral student at the Florida Museum’s McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, studies an obscure, strange…Read More
Butterfly expert Thomas Emmel has died
The Florida Museum is shocked and saddened by the passing of Thomas Emmel, our colleague and friend, who died over…Read More
40 years of friendship, 70,000 specimens: Amateur entomologists donate lifetimes’ worth of butterflies and moths
As a 4-year-old, butterfly net in hand, Ed Knudson set out to catch insects in his neighborhood. Little did he…Read More