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Research and Projects

Guatemala Biodiversity Initiative

Biodiversidad de Insectos de Guatemala logo. It depicts a bird landing on the text. It is illustrated in the colors green, red, and turquoise.

The MT James has an outstanding collection of Guatemalan specimens, borne from a longstanding collaboration. Dr. Rich Zack has spent decades collecting broadly across taxa and across sites and has worked extensively with Dr. José Monzón and the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.

Read the Daily Evergreen’s article, WSU entomologists return from insect expedition, about a collecting trip where Rich took three students along!

Please contact Rich Zack (zack@wsu.edu) if you are interested in loans, exchange, or identifications of Guatemalan insects that are housed at the MT James Museum.

Three students from Guatemala stand and smile for a picture. One holds up a tube and the other two hold up their bug nets.

Students of UVG collecting insects.

Ann Cristina is knelt down next to a creek. She holds an insect in her palm and her phone in the other.

Ann Cristina (UVG) is conducting a survey study of Guatemalan orchid bees (Euglossini).

Rich Zack stands to the side of a gravel road. Surrounding him is a dense forest.

Rich Zack getting ready to collect at night!

Two people set up a white sheet in a field. One of them hammers a sturdy spike into the ground while the other holds a pole.

José and Rich set up a light trap at Motagua River near Granados, Baja Verapaz

A light trap consisting of a white sheet held up on poles and with a UV light hung in the center. Many, many bugs cluster up onto the sheet and mostly gather around the light.

A great diversity of insects are attracted by UV light

A blue, iridescent bee stands on a piece of cardboard.

A male of Euglossa mixta at a cineole bait. Photo taken at the Pamac Reserve in Alta Verapaz.

WA Bee Atlas

A bee on the center of a coreopsis flower.

The Washington Bee Atlas (WaBA) is a WSDA Pollinator Program project that trains and partners with volunteers to identify and map existing native bee species in every county in the state. Volunteers commit to training and are provided supplies to collect native bees and process the specimens. The WSDA pollinator taxonomist then identifies the bee specimens and provides the data to the public, including researchers, agricultural stakeholders, and conservation groups. We plan several group collecting events each year, but volunteers are encouraged to collect independently as well after they have been trained.

Digitization

We’ll get back to you on information on digitization soon!