If you have an insect, spider, tick or mite you would like identified, please feel free to browse the Iowa State University Entomology website: www.ent.iastate.edu. You may also bring the specimen to our office at 311 Bank Street. If we can't identify it, we will get a photo and send it to the entomologists
Of course, you can e-mail a close-up digital image to insects@iastate.edu. If you prefer to send the specimen, please follow the instructions below:
Specimens should be dead when shipped and mailed in a bottle, box or padded envelope. Soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars, aphids and ants, and spiders, mites and ticks can be preserved in hand sanitizer gel.
Hard insects such as moths, butterflies and beetles do not need to be preserved, but they should be restrained inside the container so they don't bounce around during shipment (for example, secure a moth or butterfly inside a box with layers of dry paper toweling). Mail sample to:
- Plant & Insect Diagnostic Clinic
- 327 Bessey Hall
- Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011
Please include information about where you live, where you found your insect, and how to get in touch with you. Please note that our entomologists make every effort to respond in a timely matter.
10/19/2007