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Address:
National Taiwan University Library, 1 Roosevelt Rd. Sec. 4, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Contact:
ichunlin@ntu.edu.tw
Phone: 02-33662362
Fax: 02-23629860
Links:
Insect Museum
National Taiwan University
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Description:
Descriptions of the native insects of Taiwan date back to an early Chinese Encyclopedia, published in 1684. The passage merely describes eight species of insects including cicadas, moths, and grasshoppers. The earliest research on insects in Taiwan began in 1856. The British, Robert Swinhoe, observed and collected several kinds of animals at Hsiang-Shan in Hsinchu City, the beginning of academic research of animals in Taiwan. In 1936, with the establishment of Taihoku Imperial University, the Department of Plant Pathology and Entomology, a subdivision of Entomology first evolved at this time. Since the space at the Insectarium of the Department of Entomology, NTU was restricted, the display of insect specimens was impossible. In addition, damage to specimens was quite serious; so after the specimens had been completed, they were put into respective sample boxes. These were placed in storage for academic and research purposes only. The foundation of the collection of the Insectarium began in 1918 of insect field collections from throughout Taiwan. Nowadays, the collection of specimens in our Insectarium includes the period of Japanese occupation and specimens collected by staff and students after World War II. The number of specimens surged especially after 1980, since the National Science Council encouraged staff and students of our department to participate in field surveys of insects. Large numbers of preserved specimen have now become a historical treasure with important components from Taiwan. There are specimens which have been preserved for over a century and numerous valuable specimens, and is one of most well-known insectariums in the world. In the Insectarium, there are 330,000 specimens of Hemiptera, Orthoptera, Dermaptera, Isoptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Odonata, Ephemeroptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Mecoptera, etc.
(Information from the Website)
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