The world's largest butterfly species, the Queen Alexandra’s birdwing on display in the Cal Academy's collection
The California Academy of Sciences has the largest collection of biological reference materials west of the Mississippi. The collection provides a treasure trove of biological information for scientists and researchers studying the natural world. Of the 20 million specimens housed at the Cal Academy, 17 million are insects within the Entomology Department. Collections Manager Norman Penny gives Science on the SPOT a small peek at The Academy’s vast butterfly collection. “Butterflies hold a special interest for people,” says Penny, “They’re easily preserved, they’re numerous, they’re brightly colored and they show a lot of biological principles.”
The Academy has a long history studying bugs. The Entomology Department officially dates back to 1862 but the first insects and arachnids for The Academy's collection were actually received eight years prior in 1854. By 1900, the collection had grown to about 50,000 specimens. Unfortunately, most of The Academy’s collection was lost in the great fire which followed the 1906 earthquake. However, The Academy had sponsored an expedition to the Galapagos Islands in early 1905, and when the earthquake struck, the entomology team had not yet returned to San Francisco. Thus, the specimens saved from the fire and the new insects collected by the Galapagos expedition members served as a starter of The Academy's new collection. Today, The California Academy of Sciences boasts one of the largest entomology collections in the world.
Penny opened the lids of the cases and showed us a variety of beautiful butterflies from around the world. Bright blue iridescent morpho butterflies from South America glisten as he tilts the case. We see monarchs and owl butterflies from North America and marvel at the huge Queen Alexandra’s birdwing butterflies from Papua New Guinea. My personal favorite was seeing the California state insect, the Dogface Butterfly. Once known as “flying pansies,” Dogface butterfly males have bright yellow wings with dark markings that profile a poodle’s head.
But not all of the Cal Academy’s butterfly specimens are pinned in trays. Some are very much alive! Each day within the warm mist of the Academy’s expansive living Rainforest exhibit, colorful butterflies flit freely from blossom to branch. Each week the Academy receives a new batch of living butterfly specimens from the Central American rainforest. Cooperative butterfly farmers in Costa Rica have obtained special permits to allow them to rear native butterflies and send them north.
This program is actually beneficial to the butterflies and their native ecosystems as it encourages farmers to protect pollinators and the critical host plants in the surrounding rainforest. Farmers plant host plants on their land to feed caterpillars. Once the caterpillars transform to pupae some are collected and sent to the Academy.