Yellow… is it me you’re looking for?

We’ve had a sunny find whilst cataloguing butterflies at the Booth.

The first is the Phoebis avellaneda, the red-splashed sulphur, a butterfly only found in Cuba, it was named to honour the Cuban writer Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda.

It forms part of a collection of South and Central American butterflies left as a bequest to us by C D Woolley. This particular specimen was collected in Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos, Cuba on 10th October 1973. It now has the catalogue number: BMBL002959

The second specimen is an individual of the species Phoebis philea the orange-barred sulphur or apricot butterfly.

It was collected in Mato Grosso, Brazil, in 1886, and was part of the British Museum’s secondary collection, which was transferred to the Booth Museum in 1937.

It has just been catalogued today – 13th June 2023! It now has the catalogue number: BMBL002961

The Booth Museum first got our collections database around 2001.

So far around 100,000 entomology specimens, and all 20,000+ vertebrate specimens have been catalogued.

But the remaining 400,000 entomology specimens, as well as the molluscs and much of the botany is yet to be done – approximately 700,000 specimens still to work through!