This insect specimen drawer exemplifies the diversity of forms displayed by species in the four largest insect orders: Coleoptera (beetles & weevils), Hymenoptera (wasps, bees & ants), Lepidoptera (moths & butterflies), and Diptera (true flies). Together these orders comprise over 800,000 species, the majority of the diversity of multicellular life.

This panorama was done as part of a larger collection digitization effort at the North Carolina State University Insect Museum, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF DBI-0847924). The purpose of this image is to enable virtual browsing of our research collection. The snapshot feature of this website allows for annotations of these images, including: taxonomic determination of specimens, suggested corrections, questions, and loan requests. For more information about the museum, please visit insectmuseum.org .