Kevin Keegan
@mothpotato
I study moths so YOU don't have to. Lepidopterist at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A. All opinions are my own.
Absolutely stunning jungle jade swallowtails (Papilio karna) in our collection. Those green specks are individual metallic green scales.
And with that, the 74th Annual Meeting of the Lepidopterists' Society comes to a close. See y'all next year in Alberta!
A North-American native owlet moth is a better pollinator than (non-native) honeybees. Get REKT, Apis mellifera! Cool talk by Christopher Cosma of the Conservation Biology Institute during our Lepidopterists' Society meeting.
The third day of the 74th Annual Meeting of the Lepidopterists' Society begins shortly. Steely McLep welcomes the attendees.
Getting everything set for the Lepidopterists' Society meeting later this week
Mugs for our conference came 🥰 Phenomenal artwork by @americanbeetles.bsky.social
Back in the lab grinding up moth legs for DNA. Lots of interesting moths in this batch, including maybe a new genus I got in Jalisco, Mexico this past October.
Spreading moths for the people✊ in the museum's Visible Lab in the new Bringing the World to Pittsburgh exhibit
Absolutely exquisite handwriting in this hundred year old letter in our Hugo Kahl archive. He worked at our museum roughly from 1920–1940. Always love to see his handwriting here and there around the collection.
Found this old map of Riverview Park in our collection for some reason. Not sure when it was made. It says "Paul for historical facts" but Paul don't work here no more! Anybody have any ideas of when this could be from?
My showcase garden plot of goldenrod, gayfeather, American asters, wingstem, dogbane, milkweed, and deer tongue grass
Hahaha Oneil Cruz is eating an Uncrustable after hitting an enormous home run
Polished an old brass (and copper?) lamp we had in our section's storage. Made by Almond Man. Co. in Brooklyn, NY with patent number on it from 1898. Being from that era, it may have been a lamp of the museum's and section's first director, William Jacob Holland (pictured behind the polished lamp).
Ok everyone post with how they use their pet in their research. I use my dog's whiskers for the very delicate process of removing scales while dissecting moth genitalia. Here are the whiskers glued to wooden dowels, and a file photo of my dog Tule.