Untold stories - research & more!

Head of Section Lepidoptera & Trichoptera - Offer only in English!

An activity for adults, to learn more about insects in general, focusing on the colourful-beautiful-intriguing butterflies. Let's talk about their life histories, food preferences, ecological roles, and natural curiosities.

We will visit the Holometabolous collection of the Museum der Nature in Hamburg in the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB). It includes the collection of butterflies and moths, wing insects that have scales. Approx. of 1100 type species of lepidopterans are deposited in this collection, all of them maintained in fireproof cupboards. The main collection is composed of ca. of 1.000.000 specimens of adult butterflies and moths, dried, pinned and organised in ca. of 4500 entomological drawers. Most of the specimens came from Europe, Africa and Asia, but the collection also includes samples from South America.

Many scientific questions concerning butterflies and moths are investigated in the LIB, such as evolution on the use of host plants, genetic diversity and response to environmental changes.