The McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity represents the largest collections-based research and education center in the world focused on butterflies and moths. The collections are taxonomically comprehensive and contain more than 10 million specimens, which are widely used by an ever-growing global community of students and scientists. The Center documents past and present patterns of biological diversity and forms the basis for research ranging from climate change and emerging agricultural pests, to evolution and biodiversity conservation.
Take a Video Tour of the McGuire Center
The Center also houses a large visitor gallery with public-facing laboratories and the Butterfly Rainforest, a flagship exhibit that showcases hundreds of free-flying butterflies from around the globe in a truly immersive nature experience.
Latest Research
Bella moths use poison to attract mates. Scientists are closer to finding out how
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are as bitter and toxic as they are hard to pronounce. They’re produced by several different types of…
New book charts the history and evolution of world’s butterflies
In a new book, a father and daughter scientist duo explore the 100-million-year history of butterflies. From their inauspicious origin…
Millennia-old mystery about insects and light at night gets a new explanation
At night in the Costa Rican cloud forest, Yash Sondhi and a small team of international scientists switched on a…
See more Lepidoptera research…
McGuire Center News
Student Spotlight: Jacob Bethin
People often encounter caterpillars in their gardens or walking along a nature trail. Most of us are not even aware…
Visiting Researchers
The McGuire Center was privileged to host visiting researchers in October and November 2023, through the Mr. Carl Wisler and…
Lepidoptera Conference at the McGuire Center
Two societies for studying Lepidoptera, the Southern Lepidopterists’ Society and the Association for Tropical Lepidoptera combined their annual meetings...