Insectopia- Insect Collection
WHF holds the largest scientific insect collection "in situ" of the South Pacific of Costa Rica and it is open to researchers, students, and volunteers who want to learn about and investigate in this area. Our collection is a bank of information that will be retained for hundreds of years and will be a natural heritage for future generations! Collecting insects from nature seems to some like cruel work. However, it is the only way to tangibly document more than 1 million species of insects in the world.We are making the first inventory of insects according to their taxonomy. The inventories are essential since we cannot preserve something that we do not know.
The notion that collecting insects contribute to the disappearance of insects is not correct because only a small amount of them are taken for research, but the damage done through the destruction of habitats is much worse. Our collection is a valuable reference source for studies in systematics, ecology, physiology, genetics, conservation, monitoring of environmental changes caused by global warming, pollution, fragmentation of forests and other environmental disturbances; as well as for native and species only found in our country with very limited distributions (endemic species) or those that are under some degree of threat to their conservation into perpetuity.