Educational Resources
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The Lepidopterists’ Society can provide K-12 students, teachers and parents
resources on butterflies and moth awareness either in the classroom to enhance
your educational curriculum, or for your own personal interest and enjoyment.
Check out our projects below to find out more about how we can help you. If you
have questions or suggestions, please contact dacostma@wfu.edu.
CURRENT ACTIVITIES
The Outernet Project
Children are fascinated with nature. The Outernet Project helps place butterfly nets into the hands of children so that they can explore, sample, and learn about butterflies. The Lepidopterists’ Society has partnered with insect suppliers such as BioQuip to provide either free or severely discounted nets for kids. The Outernet Project also reaches out to other regional societies, 4H groups, boy scout troops, museums, schools, and other organized groups already teaching youngsters about butterflies and moths. Working with 4-H Clubs
Lepidoptera are good study organisms because they have relatively short life-cycles
and are easily obtained from yards. 4-H members who have questions to be answered,
or would like suggestions about any aspect of Lepidoptera, including collecting,
observing, photographing, pinning and mounting, studying adult or immature Lepidoptera,
as well as identification of unusual or intriguing specimens find help from our
membership. Lepidopterists’ Society members are willing to serve as guest speakers
and/or to share their expertise with 4-H members who are enrolled in 4-H entomology
projects!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Check out our Frequently Asked Questions page to see if we’ve already answered it. If it’s not here, then please submit
your question so we can figure it out.
Featured Lepidopterist:
Many people have incorporated their interest in Lepidoptera directly into their
careers, or else use it to complement their activities outside of their regular
jobs.
Dr. Jacqueline Miller studies
butterflies and moths. She has caught them in Cuba, bagged them in the Bahamas
and netted them in the Netherlands Antilles. She has analyzed the way they
disperse in addition to other behaviors and how they have changed over time in
comparison to their fossilized ancestors. As a curator and associate director
at the University of Florida’s McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity,
her passion for these appealing insects has earned the respect of her peers
worldwide.
One of Dr.
Miller’s main areas of interest is the Castniidae, a small family of moths that
bear unique similarities to butterflies. So striking are the similarities
between these brightly colored moths and sometimes, economic pests, and their
associated butterfly relatives that Miller’s work has resulted in a complete
revision of the taxonomy of the Castniidae. She has investigated these moths
from Mexico through Argentina and Chile. In 2007, she described a new genus of
Castniidae, called Insigniocastnia,
and other new descriptions are in progress.
Most of Dr.
Miller’s research is focused throughout the neotropics, which includes the
Caribbean, Central America and South America. She has completed biodiversity
surveys throughout the West Indies and coauthored the book Butterflies of the West Indies and South Florida. She has also
worked extensively on the diversity of butterflies in Aruba, Bonaire, and
Curacao in the southern Caribbean, also known as the ABC islands. Her interest
in lepidopteran fauna of these islands resulted in a popular field guide that
was printed in both English and Papiamentu, the native language of the islands.
In
addition, Dr. Miller has conducted extensive field-work throughout Mexico. In
2001, she initiated a project with four Mexican universities to study the
biodiversity of butterflies and moths in Mexico and to develop a collaborative
biological database.
Links
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