Entomology

Please Note: The Entomology Section is undergoing a collection storage upgrade and will be closed until September 1, 2024. 

The Entomology Collection of the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History was founded in the early 1900’s and contains approximately 1,400,000 insects. It includes specimens from around the world but is especially rich in material from the Rocky Mountain Region. The strengths of our collection are the Hymenoptera (bees), Lepidoptera (butterflies), Coleoptera, Orthoptera, and Hemiptera (leafhoppers). Regional biological collections such as ours are especially important to the ecological and systematic communities because of their historical value, the concentration of collecting in a particular area, and their unusually excellent label data. The Entomology Collection is rich in material from the Rocky Mountain Region, but also contains specimens from through out the United States and other parts of the world.  Our collection is constantly growing as we are actively engaged in collecting, research, and education. Check out a list of our current projects.

The Entomology Collection is located on the CU Boulder campus, on the third floor of the Bruce Curtis Building (MCOL). We welcome researchers who would like to use the collection. Please contact us  to set up an appointment.