Presentation Guidelines

Live & Dead Specimens Available

Dead Specimens

Most specimens are located in the Insect Research Collection, Room 346 Russell Labs; contact Steve Krauth.

• Where's Waldo = 20 insects kids can find
• Colorful Butterflies & Beetles = true vs. iridescent color (green cabinets)
• Survival = monarch/viceroy, eye spots, underneath color (green cabinets)
• Related Arthropods = spiders, crustaceans, scorpions (green cabinets)
• Types of antenna = smell and communication
• Types of legs = locomotion
• Aquatic Insects:
  • Display 1
  • Display 2
  • Display 3
• Pinning & labeling = how to
• Spreading = how to
• Beetles of Wisconsin
• Beetles of the World

Live Insects

• Hissing Cockroaches (Grophidorina) from Madagascar Africa. They are also in the museum and are fed dog food, water and apple cores. They are great to let the kids touch or hold (remind them that they will not hurt them and help them hold the insects one or two at a time).

• Death Head Cockroaches (Blaberidae: Babberus gigantea) from Asia. They are in the museum and eat the same thing as the hissing roaches. They are great to compare with the tarantula so kids can see live versions of an insect vs. a noninsect ("can you find the antenna and wing?").

• Tarantula (Grammmostola rosae) is from Chile South America. She is about 5 inches and is fed a one-half dozen crickets once a month. She sucks them dry with her fangs. In the wild tarantulas live in burrows in the ground that they line with silk. They eat all kinds of crawling insects that fall into their burrow.

• Walking sticks from Vietnam, located in Dan Young's Lab (Check with Young lab for availability). The walking sticks and cockroaches are great to show how Hemimetabolis insects develop (grow as the kids would understand). They turn from green to brown as they age and are fed romaine lettuce. We have smaller walking sticks in Wisconsin.

• Tobacco (Tomato) Hornworms (Manduca sexta). Hornworms are typically only brought to really large presentations (science fairs etc.) or when no other live insects are available. Hornworms are useful to show holometabolous development (they become the Sphynx moth, there is an example of one in the Where’s Waldo display). They are large, green caterpillars, you can also see the dorsal heart beat and offer teachers tutorials on their metamorphosis. Please contact Dr. Walt Goodman if you would like to bring hornworms to a presentation or would like more information on life history characteristics of Manduca.