Austin Butterfly Forum’s March General Meeting

Guest Speaker Crystal Maier: History of Museum of Comparative Zoology Entomology Collection

Join Austin Butterfly Forum for their March general meeting! Our speaker will be joining us virtually but come in person to socialize with other butterfly lovers. Attendees are encouraged to bring snacks and refreshments to share with the community. All monthly general meetings are open to the public and free to attend.

Presentation description: The Entomology Collection at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) at Harvard is one of the largest and most diverse university insect collections in the country, and is rich with historically important specimens. Here, we’ll explore some of the history and current projects of the MCZ Entomology Collection, including our recent NSF-funded efforts to rehouse and database our microscope slide collection. She will also highlight some of the surprisingly strong connections between the MCZ Entomology collection and Texas entomology.

Want to join this meeting virtually? Click here!

Speaker Bio: Dr. Crystal Maier is the Curatorial Associate for the Entomology Collection at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. Along with several others, she manages the day to day needs of a collection of 8 million insect specimens and of the researchers who use them. She is particularly interested in beetles, the diversity of insects, and how to bring the data and stories of these specimens to the world. She has named many new species of water beetles and been on expeditions to study insect biology around the globe.