Entomology

The Gressitt Center

In February 1984, the Trustees of Bishop Museum designated the Entomology collections and research programs as the J. Linsley Gressitt Center for Research in Entomology, in recognition of the late chairman’s contributions. The principal emphases are Pacific oceanic islands; West Pacific rim areas; and Antarctica, subantarctic islands, and southern South America for their relationships to Southwest Pacific faunas.

The collections document the great explorations of the past — the Galathea Expedition, the Mangareva Expedition, the Pacific Entomological Survey — and critically important biological surveys such as Fauna Hawaiiensis, Insects of Micronesia, and the Terrestrial Arthropod Survey of Fiji. The collection holds large but unknown numbers of endangered, threatened, and extinct species: of the Hawaiian beetles alone, possibly 75% could be considered for listing.