Entomology collections are fascinating. Because of insects' chitinous exoskeletons, they can survive for a LONG time as pinned specimens. The insides break down and they become very fragile, but all the distinguishing characters are there. So by looking at insects collected in the past, we can monitor how populations and ranges change over time.
My project for these weeks between classes is to work on putting together a list of all the bumble bees that have been collected and recorded from Montana. This means I'm going through the hundreds of specimens in the museum, confirming their identifications, and databasing them. So far, there are 23 species on our list and we have bees from 46 of the 56 Montana counties.
My nerdiness comes out again... I've handled specimens and read labels on bees that were collected as early as 1897! There are a bunch of them from the early 1900s... '02, '04, '27, '31. As I read the beautiful tiny cursive writing on some of the labels and read about where the bees were collected, I can't help but wonder who these collectors were and what the landscape looked like at that time. Montana in 1900? I bet the scenery was pretty wild and spectacular.
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| Bombus bifarius collected in 1904 |
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| My determination label looks way less interesting... |
I think that's pretty cool! Imagining who, and how, doing the same thing yet different.
ReplyDeleteImagine - no 4-wheel drive or GPS - not the same developed science, but yet the same!
They had bears, but did they have bear spray!
And I thought a bee was a bee!
That is pretty cool. Not just bees and bugs, but history too!
ReplyDeleteThe collection from 1904 is really interesting! I would get a headache with all that examination and analysis!
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