UTEP Biodiversity Collections

Welcome to the Biodiversity Collections located at University of Texas El Paso. Follow us on twitter @utepbc, instagram: @utepbc and facebook: https://tinyurl.com/ybaokgvj   

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The duck prep team is back! Today, they're preparing specimens for the teaching collections. Welcome back to school! . . . #Anatidae #museumlife #birds #ornithology #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #elpaso411 https://www.instagram.com/p/B2E9McKhGJj/?igshid=17pb1b3d0x74e

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What ant lives in the Chihuahuan Desert? These ones! Formica perpilosa is one of the few species of the Formica genus in the Chihuahian Desert, but is it really a deserty ant? This species has only been found near water, but also only in hot deserts, making these insects desert water loving ants! . . . #Formicaperpilosa #FormicidaeFriday #ant #naturalhistory #biodiversity #insects #bugsofinsta #museumlife #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #elpaso411 #myrmecology #entomology #formicidae https://www.instagram.com/p/B0ZKzwxhoDF/?igshid=1byu3xvsxa8u8

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What's cute and round and only comes out in the rain? The plains spadefoot toad! Check out beautiful photos taken by herpetology curator Dr. Carl Lieb on his trip through Texas and Oklahoma last year! . https://t.co/IzMhZICt7d https://t.co/X2qdQo6gs8 . . . #spea #Speabombifrons #spadefoottoad #toads #frogs #nocturnal #herps #herpetology #herpsofinsta #museumlife #frogs #naturalhistory #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #elpaso411 https://www.instagram.com/p/BzwYgsih5cG/?igshid=1342c1neecbf1

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Look at all the different kinds of buzz! Did you know the southwestern deserts have the highest native bee diversity in the US? That's why the PARG, run by Dr. Kevin Floyd is counting bees on campus. You might just run into them with their nets and pan traps this summer! #PollinatorWeek . . . ___ Photos by Bryanna Neria #pollinator #bees #nativebees #buzz #biodiversity #natutalhistory #entomology #bugs #insects #bugsofinsta #saveourbees #chihuahuandesert #desertlife #insectcollections #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #elpaso411 https://www.instagram.com/p/By_PjhTBcgG/?igshid=rzkfxvxqlns1

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Yesterday, our building manager asked if we had any sharks in our collections. Of course, most of our collections are focused on the southwest US, so imagine our surprise when we found the only catalogued shark tooth in our research collections from Dark Canyon Cave in New Mexico. . Read more about Dark Canyon Cave here! https://www.utep.edu/leb/pleistnm/sites/darkcanyoncave.htm . . ___ Collector: Arthur H. Harris Date: Jun 12, 1975 #sharks #chondrychthyes #fossil #NewMexico #paleontology #museumlife #naturalhistory #itsallgoodep #instapeptx #elpaso #cavesite #sharkweek https://www.instagram.com/p/By5OK7pBbK4/?igshid=1nocbs223575u

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Does this ant act insane or is it just its name? The first sentence of an article (Snelling 1995) summing up the identification problems with Dorymyrmex insanus states "No North American ant has been cursed with such a singularly unfortunate taxonomic history as that described by Buckley (1866)...". The original description doesnt say which specimens (holotypes and paratypes) were used and was quite vague. As a result, the species name has changed numerous times, giving myrmecologists a huge headache. It just goes to show that specimens are important! . . . #Dorymyrmex #Dorymyrmexinsanus #FormicidaeFriday #taxonomy #sciencefriday #ants #insects #bugs #bugsofinsta #myrmecology #entomology #museumlife #buglife #naturalhistory #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #elpaso411 #macrophotography https://www.instagram.com/p/Bys8TJ2B35e/?igshid=1s60nfr5jqy3p

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Woof! Myrmecia gulosa is called the red bull ant or bulldog ant because it's aggressive! You'd think with such powerful looking jaws, they would be doing some heavy chomping, but adults favor nectar and sweet liquids and instead bring back insects to their nests for their larvae. . . . #formicidaefridays #redbullant #Myrmecia gulosa #hoppyjoe #jackjumperants #ants #insects #formicidae #myrmecology #bugsofinsta #entomology #naturalhistory #biodiversity #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #museumlife #elpaso411 https://www.instagram.com/p/Bya360XBqBz/?igshid=1luyxcwps6cn4

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You might have to look close, but if you do, you'll see tiny wrinkles all over the head and body of this wrinkly or rugose ant species Leptothorax rugosus. Need to look closer? We now have high resolution photos of the paratypes of many Leptothorax species on our Arctos database! Happy #FormicidaeFriday! . Check out all of them here! https://arctos.database.museum/archive/lepto . . . #Leptothorax #Temnothorax #Temnothoraxrugosus #ants #insects #bugs #bugsofinsta #formicidae #myrmecology #entomology #sciencefriday #musemlife #biodiversity #instaeptx #itsallgoodep #elpaso411 #Mexico #data #paratypes #antlove #macro #arthropods #insectphotography https://www.instagram.com/p/ByIJJHPhpHa/?igshid=126wxpm4tsl2k

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From Madagascar, this is a male specimen of the species Aphaenogaster swammerdami! Of course, this species is named after the Dutch biologist Jan Swammerdam who pioneered many dissection techniques for insects and determined that "king bees" were actually "queen bees"! . . . #Aphaenogaster #swammerdami #JanSwammerdam #anatomy #historyofscience #ants #insects #FormicidaeFriday #myrmecology #entomology #eptx #elpaso411 #bugs #bugsofinsta https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx3Jj1yhzf3/?igshid=nl86wabsm13d

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From Madagascar, this is a male specimen of the species Aphaenogaster swammerdami! Of course, this species is named after the Dutch biologist Jan Swammerdam who pioneered many dissection techniques for insects and determined that "king bees" were actually "queen bees"! . . . #Aphaenogaster #swammerdami #JanSwammerdam #anatomy #historyofscience #ants #insects #FormicidaeFriday #myrmecology #entomology #eptx #elpaso411 #bugs #bugsofinsta https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx3Jj1yhzf3/?igshid=jhnn1bwclxk1

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Azteca is a genus of ants that has a close symbiotic relationship with Cecropia plants. The plants provide shelter and food while the Azteca ants aggressively defend the trees from herbivores and potential parasitic plants. Workers destroy any foreign plants that might be found on their home. . . . #formicidaefridays #ants #Azteca #Cercropia #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #naturalhistory #formicidae #biodiversity #entomology #myrmecology #bugsofinsta #bugs #insects https://www.instagram.com/p/BxlADgHBoVI/?igshid=md547pvc9wbf

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Last Friday, graduate student Oceane, undergraduate students Luid and Muriel helped to give @utep_stemgrow a tour of the amazing things we have in the collections! . . . #scicomm #rattlesnakes #anatomy #ducks #Anatidae #stem #education #museumlove #museumlife #naturalhistory #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #elpaso411 #tours https://www.instagram.com/p/BxaU84rB4up/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=4svv4vtqkk1i

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What's just so exciting about searching in the middle of the night for lizards? You just never know what you'll find! Graduate student Josh led Biol 1108 on a midnight hike to Prospect Pits, where students found wolf spiders and a greater earless lizard! . . . #wolfspider #spiders #arachnids #entomology #lizard #earlesslizard #Cophosaurus #texanus #Cophosaurustexanus #herps #herpetology #education #herpsofinsta #vanhorn #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #elpaso411 #wildlife #nighttrips https://www.instagram.com/p/BxUzvcNBpRt/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qw9hlxb3894w

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Students with their first catches! Field trips are an essential part of biology. The study of life can't just take place inside the classroom. Taking the time to observe, to search and find makes concepts in biology real and instills a way of seeing the environment around us. . . . #naturalhistory #science #education #collection #biology #beetle #snails #molluscs #formicidae #zoology #biodiversity #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #elpaso411 #wildlife #camping #museumlife #collectionsareessential https://www.instagram.com/p/BxNG-BhhcBk/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=cef7htk1sxw9

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We're back! From Indio Ranch Research Station. Biol 1108 students headed to Indio Ranch to collect ants and see the biodiversity of the Chihuahuan Desert. Here are some photos from the first day. . Photo 1: Graduate student, Oceane picks up a large diamondback rattlesnake that had been run over by a car. . Photo 2: Indio Ranch spreads before us. . Photo 3: Students check out a black tailed rattlesnake at the station that is awaiting surgery. . . . #rattlesnakes #herping #indioranch #Indio #Crotalus #atrox #molossus #fieldtrips #camping #scicomm #desert #naturalhistory #biodiversity #museumlife #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #elpaso411 #herpetology #herpsofinsta #education https://www.instagram.com/p/BxIS4b8hmfe/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=zlp0ulr5wef3

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Happy Earth Day! You can't conserve something if you don't know if it exists! Biol1108 students talked about their projects and the importance of natural history collections to students at Union Plaza today. . . . #scicomm #birds #naturalhistory #museumlife #museumlove #insects #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #elpaso411 #biodiversity #outreach #education https://www.instagram.com/p/BwkvWC2BrBB/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=oec7qhhbuz8t

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Well you can probably guess that this Leptothorax emmae was named by curator Dr. William P. Mackay after his wife and partner in myrmecology, Emma Mackay! . . . #FormcidaeFriday #Lepothorax #Temnothorax #emmae #ants #formicidae #entomology #myrmecology #insects #biodiversity #itsallgoodep #instaetpx #eptx #elpaso412 #museumlife #myrmecologists #bugsofinsta https://www.instagram.com/p/BwdB0wuBBFb/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ab23pv4r0siv