
Texas A&M University Insect Collection
The Texas A&M University Insect Collection, TAMUIC, is one of the top 10 university-based insect collections in the nation. The collection has been an integral part of entomology at Texas A&M more than 100 years and plays a vital role in advancing our university’s land-grant mission.
The collection has grown steadily through the years to better serve the state and scientific community. It is the largest and most complete research and reference collection of Texas arthropods anywhere and is an important entomological research collection in the state of Texas.
Our collection is used extensively by research entomologists around the world, particularly by those studying in the field of insect systematics – which involves studies of the biodiversity, classification and evolutionary relationships of insects. The collection loans more than 10,000 specimens annually to researchers working in different parts of the world.
Because of the collection’s geographical emphasis on the insect fauna of Texas, surrounding states, and Mexico, the collection is particularly well-known and used by researchers around the state, nationally, and internationally who work on insects in these areas. By making specimens widely available for scientific study, the Texas A&M University Insect Collection is an important node in the global network of biodiversity research collections and supports the efforts of entomological researchers around the world to better understand and document the diversity and distribution of the earth’s arthropod fauna.
Contact the Curators
John Oswald
Professor, Curator, Texas A&M University Insect Collection