At Science and Education Innovation Center (ZIIC) of the Liepāja Municipality Education Department a new installation “Insect collections” is opened in the Nature House, which was created within the framework of the project “Development of the Innovation Centre in Liepaja City” of the EEA/N grant program “Research and Education”.
The creation of the insect collection in the Nature House began in September 2021, when entomology lessons led by Kristaps Vilks, a certified entomologist and lecturer at the Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology of the University of Latvia, took place in the ZIIC Nature House. These lessons began with learning the classifications of insects, identifying the orders and species of insects, up to the first steps in the practical creation of insect collections. Specialists prepared in this way created a new installation “Insect collection” during the implementation of the project.
It is no longer a secret to many that such living creatures as Australian weaver ants and Madagascar hissing cockroaches already live in the Nature House, but the newly created collection of insects gives an even wider understanding of the diversity of insects and their role in Latvian nature. For example, some of the collections are devoted to the classification and familiarization of the mouth organs of insects. In this way, you can see in one place how many different types of insect mouth organs there are and which insects, for example, are representatives of the rodent type mouth organs, which are suckers, but which lick with their mouth organs. Other collections consist of butterfly species of Zirgu Island.
“Although the installation can be considered successfully completed within the framework of the implemented project, it is planned to regularly supplement it with new insect findings,” emphasizes Kitija Kuduma, Acting manager of the Center. On the other hand, the Center’s environmental expert Sniedze Više adds: “Insects are invertebrates and they are all around us. Invertebrates make up 95% of the world’s animals, which is why there is a desire to study the smallest ones in depth.”
In the Nature House, several lessons about insects are already being implemented, such as “Ant researcher” or “Zoology under a magnifying glass”, where the collection of insects will be a great addition to the lesson process.
The installation “Insect collections” was developed by the Project “Development of the Innovation Centre in Liepaja City” that is funded by the EEA/N grant programme “Research and Education”. Its total cost is EUR 986 049.00, of which EUR 754 327.40 is co-financing of the Norwegian Financial Instrument, EUR 133 116.60 is co-financed by the State budget of Latvia and EUR 98 605.00 by Liepaja City Municipality.
“Creating an insect collection is a very delicate, careful and time-consuming process, in which mistakes are also a significant part of the work. The process of building an insect collection requires precision, patience and curiosity. The big differences in the external structure and appearance of insects stimulate the desire to study and learn about their feeding characteristics, mutual relationships or adaptations to the surrounding environment,” admits Sniedze Više, the main author of the installation.
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