EMUS

Entomological Museum at Utah State

The Entomological Museum at Utah State University has been used for research since the 1960s. Overtime the collection has grown to include more than 2 million insects and thousands of microscope slides.

The majority of the collection comes from the Intermountain West, Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile, Madagascar, and Africa. Researchers in the collection focus on Pompilidae, Mutillidae, Chyphotidae, Ichnuemonidae, Stratiomyidae, and Aphididae.

History

1907 - Dr. Elmer D. Ball (1870-1943) became the director of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Utah Agricultural College (UAC), with a focus on leafhoppers.

1908 - Dr. E. G. Titus joined the college as a Professor of Zoology and Entomology.

1913 - Dr. William W. Henderson (1879-1944) joined the college faculty, with a focus on grasshoppers.

1916 - Dr. Ball left Utah to become the Wisconsin state entomologist, leaving his collection of leafhoppers.

1925 - Dr. George F. Knowlton (1901-1987), joined the staff of the Experiment Station, and later became full professor, at the college, and helped greatly develop the Insect Collection with Dr. Ball and Dr. Titus.

1929 - UAC was renamed the Utah Agricultural State College (UASC) after the addition of the School of Education.

1940 - The Logan Bee Lab formed, focusing on alfalfa seed production and bee pollinators. All bees of the insect collection were moved to this lab.

1947 - Dr. George E. Bohart (1916-1998) became the director of the USDA-ARS Bee Biology and Systematics Lab and a full professor at USU, with a focus on leafcutter and alkali bees.

1957 - UASC was granted university status after adding doctoral degrees in 1950, renaming it to Utah State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences (USU).

1963 - Dr. Wilford J. Hanson (1927-2013) was appointed curator of the insect collection, with a Neotropical focus. He facilitated the rehousing of the insect collection to the second floor of BNR.

2004 - Dr. James Pitts became an instructor for the biology department, and picked up managing the EMUS collections.

2019 - Collection moved to storage as BNR was renovated.

2021 - Collection moved to new (current) BNR space.

Policies

Loans - Click here to view the loan policies

Collections Use - Click here to view the policies regarding use and publications related to EMUS specimens

Visits - Please email Dr. James Pitts if you'd like to visit the research collections

Contact

Dr. James Pitts or Dr. Emily Sadler-Pitts pittssadlerlab@gmail.com

USU Insect Tours - Click here if your school or private group would like to participate in the Entomology Club's Insect Tours

Digital Display

Graduate student, Brenna Decker, has created an interactive digital display about Pompilidae (spider wasps) that the museum is happy to share with everyone! Come take a look and learn more about these fascinating animals. You can find the display here.

In the new window, continue to the ArcGIS StoryMap site to view the web page.

Traveling Exhibition

In 2022, graduate student Brenna Decker created a traveling exhibition that will be housed at EMUS. Titled Wasps of Utah, this small exhibit will be showcased at Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter (Park City, UT), Stokes Nature Center (Logan, UT), and Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (Brigham, UT) in Summer and Fall 2023.

If you would like to host this traveling exhibit in the future, please contact the current collection manager at pittssadlerlab@gmail.com.

A digital display of this exhibition is also available here (follow this link to Prezi).

In The News

USU Doctoral Student Presents "Wasps of Utah" Exhibit - by Craig Hislop, May 25, 2023

Utah State Insect Library Grows to 6 Million Species - by Ryan Bittan, March 30, 2022

Pinned - A Look Inside USU's Insect Library - by Kristen Munson, March 4, 2022

Bark Worse Than Bite? USU Entomologists Study Wasp, Bee, Ant Stings - by Mary-Ann Muffoletto, August 28, 2018

Bug Club Explores USU's Giant Collection of Insects - by Steve Shinney, February 4, 2005

Specimens

View the public list of species housed at EMUS!

(coming soon)

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