Holdings
The collection's holdings consist of 3,375,058 specimens (including 2,019 primary and 33,216 secondary types) representing 47,976 described species. Over the last 5 years, an average of 67,000 new specimen accessions have been added to the collection. Holdings of special taxonomic or historical importance include:
- Insects (especially Coleoptera) collected by Otto Luger
- C.E. Mickel Mutillidae collection, one of the best in the world, consisting of 27,000 specimens and 282 primary types
- J.E. Guthrie collection of Collembola
- O.W. Oestlund and A.A. Granovsky collections of Aphididae
- Noctuidae collection of A.G. Richards
- R.D. Price collection of Mallophaga, containing more than 220,000 slide mounted specimens
- T.N. Ananthakrishnan collection of thrips
In addition to these historically important taxonomic holdings, the collection houses material from throughout Minnesota, the Upper Midwest, and the United States. Much exotic material has been added from research expeditions abroad, including material from Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Mexico, Nicarague, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, and Venezuela in the New World and Gahna, Indonesia (Irian Jaya, Biak), Kenya, and Malaysia in the Old World.