Naturalist donates collection to Natural History Museum

Heritage Malta has acquired a vast entomological collection for its Museum of Natural History at Vilhena Palace, in Mdina.

The collection was put together and presented to Heritage Malta by naturalist Guido Lanfranco.

The collection of over 1,000 insect-species includes lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), orthoptera (grasshoppers), odonata (dragonflies), hymenoptera (bees and wasps) and diptera (flies) - all collected on the Maltese Islands.

The collection has been transferred into glass boxes and, with the help of Mr Lanfranco, is now being systematically organised and catalogued.

The insects are all identified, as is the date when they were collected and the place.

In the past months, Heritage Malta's National Museum for Natural History received various other collections from local and foreigner collectors. These include two mineral collections, marine seashells, a stuffed birds collection and a number or insects.

The National Museum for Natural History is open daily between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.