2025 Annual Report

Note from the Director

Last year was another strong one for the Frost Entomological Museum. We continue to grow, with thousands of additional voucher specimens, new material from collection donations, and immaculate specimen preps from our students. We also continue to engage, through dozens of outreach events and our student internship experiences. Much of our 2025 work, including our audit of the collection for endangered and vulnerable species and our (ongoing) dialogue with the college's Development and Alumni Relations Office, lays a strong foundation for what is sure to be an exciting 2026. For example, thanks to several generous donors (more on them soon!), we can offer our summer internship program for the first time since 2016. We also are looking at some changes to our public space (new exhibit?) and possibly our facade. Watch our newsletter for some big updates. As always, I am incredibly grateful for the robust and supportive community connected to the Frost Museum. Your generosity and advocacy make all of these accomplishments possible.

Andrew R. Deans, Ph.D.

Professor of Entomology and Director of the Frost Entomological Museum

P.S. I also logged close to 700 miles biking to work. My aposematic clothes keep the cars away.

Our Mission

 © Frost Entomological Museum

The mission of the Frost Entomological Museum is to preserve in perpetuity the collections of the Department of Entomology at Penn State and its partners, to facilitate research on arthropods and on collections practices, to disseminate research results broadly, to serve as a resource for science education and training, to foster a sense of curiosity about the natural world, and to instill responsibility in all people to make our world a better place.

The Collections

© Frost Entomological Museum

This year saw the collections grow by approximately 16,500 specimens. Most of these specimens stand as vouchers for large-scale projects, including Rights-Of-Way (ROW) research conducted by Carolyn Mahan and her team, the López-Uribe Lab's Pennsylvania Bee Monitoring Program, pollinator surveys led by David Biddinger at the Fruit Research and Extension Center (FREC), and collaborative gall wasp rearing efforts in the Department of Entomology.

Research Loans

21 loans comprising 3,525 specimens made to researchers at the following institutions:

• Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
• Colorado State University
• Harvard University
• Lund University
• Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle
• Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
• North Carolina State University
• The Pennsylvania State University
• University of Delaware
• University of Iowa

Outreach & Education Loans

18 additional loans were made to Penn State personnel for courses, workshops, outreach, and engagement activities.

Visiting Researchers

10 external researchers from Hiram College, Commonwealth (Bloomsburg) University of Pennsylvania, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, and Biodiversity Research Institute visited the Frost to access its collections.

Biodiversity Data

80 journal articles, 1 conference proceeding, 17 preprints, and 4 theses cited Frost Entomological Museum biodiversity data that is publicly accessible via the Global Biodiversity Infrastructure Facility (GBIF).

Student Experiences

Undergraduate Internships

Liz Heffner (Plant Sciences, '26) focused her project on policy considerations of natural history collections. Heffner learned about the major authorities for protected species (ESA, IUCN, CITES), and inventoried the Frost's collections for species that may be subject to regulation.

She also digitized these specimens if their data had not already been made publicly accessible on our online database.

Victoria Lee (Anthropology, '25) focused her project on curating the bee holdings in the collection. She helped rehouse specimens, index the species present and their quantities, and learned to use TaxonWorks software for digitizing a subset of the bee specimens.

Undergraduate Research

Ahmad Aslam (Biology, '28) is describing two new species of parasitoid gall wasps in the genus Glyphomerus using genetic, morphological, and ecological evidence to complete these descriptions.

Dongwook Kim (Biology, '25) was an intern in the spring and helped rebuild the entire teaching collection of the Frost. In the fall, he began research investigating the unusual prolonged diapause of Synophromorpha sylvestris, a wasp inquiline that exploits galls produced by Diastrophus bassetti and Diastrophus nebulosus. Kim x-rayed galls to verify inhabitance and used DNA barcoding to verify larval species inside of galls. His data revealed a difference in emergence phenology between S. sylvestris emerging from D. bassetti and D. nebulosus galls. In addition, only some of the S. sylvestris emerging from D. bassetti galls were experiencing prolonged diapause. The adaptive benefit of this behavior is unknown.

Graduate Research

Charles Davis is researching the diversity and systematics of gall wasps in the tribe Diastrophini, which induce galls on cinquefoil and bramble plants. His most recent work described two new species of gall wasps that induce inconspicuous galls on cinquefoils, compiled a comprehensive list of all gall wasp species known to induce inconspicuous galls on plants, and discussed the distribution, adaptive benefits, and evolutionary significance of inconspicuous galls among gall wasps.

Charles K. Davis, Louis F. Nastasi, Victor Cuesta-Porta, Heather M. Hines & Andrew R. Deans (2026) Minimalism is in: two new Diastrophus (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) species inducing inconspicuous galls on cinquefoils (Rosaceae: Potentilleae), with evaluation of the extended phenotype across gall wasps, Journal of Natural History, 60:5-8, 423-447, doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2025.2605329.

© Camilo Chica

Camilo Flórez Valencia has been researching the systematics and natural history of treehoppers (Membracidae and related families). His work has taken him to Colombian forests for collections and observations of species in the genus Lycoderides. He recently published descriptions of new species, alongside new diagnostic keys and novel natural history observations: intriguing and previously unknown behaviors, host plant associations, interactions with ants, and the mix of treehopper species coexisting on the same host plants. 

Flórez-V, C., Lapèze, J. & Urban, J.M. (2025) Taxonomic and ecological notes on Lycoderides Sakakibara (Hemiptera: Membracidae), including two new species from the highlands of the Colombian Andes. Zootaxa, 5665 (2), 151–186. doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5665.2.1

Education

© Frost Entomological Museum

The Frost aids many courses and other educational activities by providing access to its public space and teaching collection. As a museum in the life sciences, we are well positioned to aid education across many disciplines, and our resources are excellent tools that allow for hands-on activities that capture natural biological variation, inspire inquiry, and provide a tangible link to broader learning objectives.

Penn State Course Visits

• ANTH 380: Anthropology Museum Studies
• ENT 316: Field Crops Entomology
• ENT 597: Tech & AI in Living Systems
• ENT 220: Insect Connections
• SCIED 118: Field Natural History for Teachers
• GD 200: Graphic Design Studio
• ENT 320: Insects and Natural History Collections
• RPTM 325: Principles of Environmental Interpretation

Penn State Course Specimen Loans

• BIOL 110: Basic Concepts and Biodiversity (Spring)
• ENT 457: Principles of Integrated Pest Management
• ENT 220: Insect Connections
• BIOL 110: Basic Concepts and Biodiversity (Fall)
• ENT 222N: Honey Bees and Humans
• ENT 532: Insect Biodiversity and Evolution
• ENT 320: Insects and Natural History Collections

Other Regional School Groups

• Penns Valley High School Special Education Class
• SCASD Elementary (K-5) Virtual Academy
• State College Friends School
• Lewisburg Area High School Bee Keepers Club
• Park Forest Preschool
• Woodward Elementary, 2nd Grade
• Juniata Elementary, 4th grade
• Penns Valley Intermediate, 6th grade
• Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA)
• Delta Middle School, Nature Writing, 6th-8th
• Access Church Homeschool Group

Engagement

Part of the museum's mission is to foster a sense of curiosity about the natural world, and to instill responsibility in all people to make our world a better place. In addition to traditional education, we aim to do this through the exhibits in our public space, by sharing our work and specimens that inspire curiosity at community events, and encouraging observation of the natural world through our annual haiku contest.

© Frost Entomological Museum

>2,500 visitors to the public space which exhibits information about arthropods and the ongoings of the Department of Entomology.

~380 visitors toured behind the scenes to learn about the collection and the work done in the museum.

2025 Hexapod Haiku Challenge received 980 haiku submitted by 325 participants from 37 countries.

Participated in community events including the Great Insect Fair, Pumpkinfest, and EarthFest at the Student Farm.

The Team

Andrew Deans, Ph.D., Director and Professor of Entomology

David Biddinger, Ph.D., Curator of Hymenoptera and Research Professor

Heather Hines, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology & Entomology

Margarita López-Uribe, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Entomology

Michael Skvarla, Ph.D., Assistant Research Professor of Arthropod Identification

Julie Urban, Ph.D., Associate Research Professor

Nash Turley, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher

Charles Davis, Graduate Student Researcher

Nina Devine, Graduate Student Researcher

Camilo Flórez Valencia, Graduate Student Researcher

Codey Mathis, Graduate Student Researcher

Louis Nastasi, Graduate Student Researcher

Ahmad Aslam, Undergraduate Researcher

Dongwook Kim, Undergraduate Researcher

Kelly Bennett, Undergraduate Intern

Parker Przybylski, Undergraduate Intern

Victoria Lee, Undergraduate Intern

Elizabeth Heffner, Undergraduate Intern

Alex Lewis, Undergraduate Intern

Laura Porturas, Collection Manager

Michael Tribone, Multimedia Specialist

Sarah Kania, Assistant for Bee Collection for López-Uribe Lab

Kate Anton, Lab Manager and Beekeeper for Grozinger Lab

Antonio Casadei, Entomology Technician

Adam Scherr, Entomology Technician

Cecil Smith, Entomology Technician

Nina Gropp,  Entomology Technician

Kaley Hallmark,  Entomology Technician

Maggie Borinski, Entomology Technician

Jael Scott, Entomology Technician

Anne Burgevin, Poet & Hexapod Haiku Challenge Judge

Mia Bitman, Collections Associate

Alex Sarver, Museum Support

Rose Manno, Collections Volunteer

Grace Yabiku, Collections Volunteer

Sudhir Vemula, Collections Volunteer

Tiffany Zheng, Collections Volunteer

Andy Swartley, Collections Volunteer

Abby Blahovec, Collections Volunteer

Ash Frost, Collections Volunteer

Entomology Graduate Student Organization, Outreach Volunteers

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