Staff photo by Andy Molloy, Central Maine.

Maine State Museum curator of zoology Paula Work and University of Maine professor Andrei Alyokhin inspect a case of insects.

In the fall of 2012, a rare insect collection containing more than 107,000 specimens was donated to the museum by the University of Maine.

The collection contains many specimens collected within Maine for decades by students and university professors. It also includes rare tropical butterflies and other specimens from outside the state.

The collection will be kept and used for research at the museum’s climate-controlled storage facility. From time to time, portions of the collection may be exhibited at the museum, such as during the upcoming Bug Maine-ia, or lent to other institutions.

The Kennebec Journal covered the story in its September 7, 2012 edition. Read it by following this link.