BELGRADE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Meet the wonderful insects of Serbia
Check out unique specimens of insects and illustrations that reveal the world of one of the planet’s most numerous and ancient groups of animals T he Serbian capital’s Nat- ural History Museum is presenting an exhibition that turns the spotlight on insects, presenting them as they really are - without generalisa- tions, embellishments, simplifications or alterations. This exhibition provides a unique opportunity for visitors to ex- plore the exceptional diversity, com- plexity and ecological importance of in- sects, highlighting their indispensable role in nature. Since first appearing approximately 400 million years ago, insects have evolved successfully and adapted to the various and often dramatic changes in Earth’s living conditions. Their evolutionary ad- vancement wasn’t even halted by the appearance of humans – or the first hominins, some 4-8 million years ago – or by the increasingly destructive in- fluence of modern human civilisation. Thanks to their amazing adaptation strategies and resistance to various en-
Collected and prepared over the previous 35 years, the entomological material used especially for this exhibition is displayed in all its glory and beauty
vironmental influences, they can be found today in every habitat – from de- serts to high mountains, while a few of them have even adapted to life in a ma- rine environment. “It sounds paradoxical that we only be- come aware of the most numerous groups of animals when they bother us, when a mosquito buzzes around our heads during a summer night. Although man’s first association with insects is unpleasant, they have an important role to play in the entire ecosystem and impact all aspects of life on the planet: from pollination, via the decomposition of organic matter to the control of pop- ulations of other organisms. Because of their incredible adaptation strategies and resilience, scientists often note that insects are humans only real “competi- tors” on Earth – both in the sense of di- rect competition and in the context of global influences on nature and the sur- vival of the living world,” says Aleksan- dar Stojanović, one of the exhibition’s authors and a conservator-entomolo- gist at the Natural History Museum. Insects aren’t only ancient inhabitants of our planet, but rather also repre- sent the most numerous groups of an- imals on Earth. More than 1.4 million species have been described to date, while new ones are discovered every day. Despite their diversity far ex- ceeding that of all other animals com- bined, no single and complete list of insect species identified in Serbia has been compiled to date.
Visitors to this exhibition will have the opportunity to acquaint themselves with 2,193 species of impeccably pre- pared insects, housed in 159 entomo- logical boxes. From butterflies and bee- tles to industrious ants and mysterious praying mantises, this exhibit presents 13,500 carefully preserved insect spec- imens. Completing the exhibition are 68 illustrations that show in fine detail the incredible morphological character- istics of some of the smallest insects in Serbia. Through prepared specimens, il- lustrations and photographs, this exhi- bition presents a total of 2,244 species of insect. The exhibition presents all insect or- ders so far established in Serbia. The most broadly represented are butter- flies, with 75 entomological boxes, fol- lowed by coleoptera (beetles) with 37 and hymenoptera with 15 entomo- logical boxes, with other groups of in- sects less represented. Several smaller orders of insects are represented only through illustrations of characteristic representatives that have been special- ly made for the purposes of this exhi- bition. Apart from the aforementioned groups of insects, visitors will have an oppor- tunity to see and familiarise them- selves with the morphology and im- portance of primarily wingless insects, but also mayflies, dragonflies and dam- selflies, grasshoppers, crickets, mantis- es, cockroaches, bookworms, bedbugs, fleas, moths, wasps, ants, bees etc.
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