UA Museums’ Collections Spotlight: Jar of Ants

UA Museums’ Collections Spotlight: Jar of Ants

A jar of ants determined by E.O. Wilson is one of hundreds of specimens in the Entomology Collection.

One interesting set of specimens in the Entomology Collection is a jar of ants that was collected in the late 1940s by Barry D. Valentine and determined by E.O. Wilson.

Wilson graduated from The University of Alabama in 1950 and is now the Pellegrino University Research Professor, Emeritus in Entomology for the department of Organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard University. He is a world authority on ants and known as the father of biodiversity. Throughout his career he has authored more than 20 books and discovered hundreds of new species. He was also the first to discover the Red Import Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta) when it was introduced from Argentina to the shores of Mobile.

Valentine was a classmate of Wilson’s, and both were mentored by Ralph Chermock, who was a former director of the museum, and whose vast collection of butterflies remain a significant part of the Entomology Collection.

The Entomology Collection is home to several historically significant collections, including the H.P. Löding Beetle Collection and the R.L. Chermock Butterfly Collection. Additionally, it is one of the largest aquatic insect collections in the southeastern United States. The collection is housed in the Mary Harmon Bryant Collections Facility.

Mary Beth Prondzinski, collections manager for the Alabama Museum of Natural History, provided the above information.