The Virginia Tech Insect Collection (VTEC) is the oldest and largest entomological collection in Virginia (online at https://collection.ento.vt.edu). Founded in 1888, its 400,000 specimens represent Virginia's rich insect diversity, highlighting the Appalachian region. The collection faced significant challenges that threatened its overall research and educational value. In this project, we provided critical support to the collection and accomplished the following objectives: (1) relocated the collection to a central location on campus, (2) improved the storage infrastructure of the specimens, and (3) digitized, catalogued, and georeferenced specimens. Our collection includes many historical treasures (e.g., the American Burying Beetle collected from Blacksburg in 1893, now extirpated from our state) and is actively used for numerous research projects. With this support, the VTEC is an improved resource for insect science in Appalachia, supporting research of 20 faculty members at Virginia Tech and providing outreach opportunities to the broader community. With a committed and enthusiastic group of collections personnel, including a curator, three graduate students, six undergraduates, and a collections manager, we upgraded the collection to avert critical threats to its security and longevity. With  support for personnel and new storage infrastructure (cabinets and drawers), the VTEC has been returned to campus, and is once again a premier research and educational resource at Virginia Tech.

We re-established the VTEC on campus and significantly improved the condition of its specimens by replacing drawers and cabinets, digitizing and cataloguing material and networking the collection data with public biodiversity repositories through Symbiota Collection of Arthropods Network (SCAN), Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio), and Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Several scientifically valuable collections were saved, including specimens of Federally Endangered species, endemic Appalachian species, a historical Aquatic insect collection, a large glass slide collection, and 170,000 pinned insects. We published a peer-reviewed article on collection management (http://bdj.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=9583), established a website (https://collection.ento.vt.edu/), and social media (https://twitter.com/vtbugcollection).

Appalachia in southwestern Virginia and neighboring states is biologically rich, but threatened by habitat loss. The VTEC's 170,000 pinned insects are mostly from this region; however, they were historically uncatalogued and unknown to researchers, which compromised their scientific utility. Upon cataloguing specimens online with publicly accessible databases (SCAN, iDigBio, GBIF), the collection has become a valuable resource for conservation, agriculture, and public health. Over the duration of this project, nine students and a staff collections manager were trained in natural history collections research, including curatorial best practices, digitization, cataloguing, and networking biodiversity data. The ways in which the collection was used were diverse. Public outreach events included annual Hokie Bugfests, educational Hokie Bugcamps, and delivery of curriculum kits for elementary students. We donated our old insect cabinets and drawers as mini-natural history collections to local nature centers. Insect specimens housed in the collection were used as therapy aids for treating insect and spider phobia cases in collaboration with Virginia Tech's Child Study Center. The Virginia Tech Insect Collection houses type specimens of several new species of millipedes from the Appalachian Mountains, including a new species from Virginia Tech's campus.

Last Modified: 08/20/2019
Modified by: Paul E Marek