Insects and insect lovers alike will soon have a new place to mingle. 
The nations first freestanding is scheduled to open late this year. I know
there will be many people that are as excited as I was when I heard the 
news (live, nonnative beetles!). It will be located in New Orleans, 
Louisiana, within the French Quarter. The insectarium will be the new 
home for thousands of live insects, with 23,000 square feet of exhibit 
space. The museum will also feature mounted insects, interactive 
exhibits and hands-on displays, for some close encounters with living 
creatures. The live specimens housed at the insectarium will be both
imported from other countries and raised in an off-site laboratory. Live
atlas, hercules, stag and frog beetle displays have all been considered.
    Here is a run-down of some of the exhibits:

"Prehistoric Wonders" will take a look back in time and explore what
we know about the earliest insects. Here you will be able to view fossil 
and amber preserved insect specimens and will learn about how insects 
have evolved into the species that we know today. This area will also
house roaches and other living relatives of prehistoric insects.

The "Field Camp" exhibit will introduce you to the diverse world of 
arthropods by recreating a rain forest field camp. This area will have a
full-time "field collector" to answer questions and allow you to handle 
live insects like: giant African millipedes, rhinoceros beetles, 
whip-scorpions and tarantulas.

Butterflies will quietly glide overhead as you walk through the 
garden-like "Butterflies in Flight" exhibit. This area will also include a
waterfall, bamboo forest and a beach for the butterflies.

The "Life Underground" exhibit room will help you feel like you have 
been shrunken down to insect size. This area will demonstrate the
impact that insects have in our environment, and will house a huge
animatronic centipede and realistic large-scale model insects.

Of course the "Insects of New Orleans" exhibit will highlight insects
that can be found living right in the city of New Orleans. Mosquitoes,
love-bugs, paper wasps, assassin bugs and roaches will be found here.

The "Metamorphosis" exhibit will cover the amazing transformations
that insects go through during their life-cycles. Here you will be able
to learn about insect courtship and mating. A working husbandry 
laboratory will allow you to witness larval and pupal insect stages and
emerging butterflies.

You will be transported to the ground level of a swamp to discover
natives in the "Louisiana Swamp" exhibit. Walk between cypress
trunks to find black widows, velvet ants, katydids and fiery
searchers.

For anyone interested in ingesting and digesting insects, the 
"Cooking Show" will offer live cooking demonstrations with samples of 
insect recipes from around the world. For everyone else (including me),
the "Cultural Connection Cafe" will offer more standard meals. There
will also be an insect-themed gift shop.

    The museum will be located on the first floor of the US Customs 
House at 423 Canal Street. The 150-year old building encompasses the
entire block between North Peters and Decatur streets. All major
construction work for the insectarium is nearing completion and will 
soon make way for the more delicate tasks of exhibit creation and 
preparing for the grand opening. I am sorry to cause so many 
sleepless nights of anticipation for everyone reading this, but you 
would have found out sooner or later. I also hope they are able to
hold an annual insect show (yes, I have already suggested it, and
they had already considered it), but first things first.
    For more information regarding the insectarium, including a floor
plan and more photos, visit the official website at: 
Auduboninstitute.org/insect
For the latest news that I know about, check back here soon.

   Steven Barney,
      Beetle-Experience.com
 


 *Most of the privious article can be found in the winter 2004 issue of
"Invertebrates Magazine"
  www.angelfire.com/oh3/elytraandantenna/invertmag.html