Megan Barkdull
LightNews LightNews
banner
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
Megan Barkdull
@meganbarkdull.bsky.social
640 followers 400 following 48 posts
Assistant Curator of Entomology @nhm.org | insects, genomes, museums | @cornelluniversity.bsky.social & New College of Florida alumna | she/her.
Posts Replies Media Videos
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
Out with the old, in with the new! Updating header labels and fixing taxonomy that’s ~25 years out of date in our turtle ant collection. 🐜🎉
In the foreground, a hand holds two small pieces of paper, one that reads “Zacryptocerus basalis (F. smith, 1867)” and one that reads “Cephalotes basalis (Smith, F. 1876) Neotropical”. A drawer of pinned ant specimens is in the background.
October 17, 2025 at 7:28 PM
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
Getting set up with some spooky bugs for @nhm.org’s Haunted Museum event! 🐜🐞🎃🕸️
Megan, a brunette woman in an insect themed t-shirt, holds a drawer of colorful grasshoppers while standing in an aisle of entomology cabinets.
October 4, 2025 at 10:54 PM
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
Entomology collection treasures at @nhm.org: gorgeous clearwing butterflies, including one specimen from 1934!
A photograph of several pinned clearwing butterflies in a natural history collection. The butterflies have transparent wings with black veining and patterning.
September 25, 2025 at 2:20 PM
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
Are you an undergraduate or graduate student whose research would benefit from visiting a collection at the @nhm.org? Apply now for our Collections Study Award! Deadline is Oct. 1; learn more at nhm.org/student-coll...
Flyer for the award. Has images of three students interacting with collections materials; text reads: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Student Collections Study Award October 1st, 2025 Application Deadline Application and Details: https://nhm.org/student-collections-study-award
September 15, 2025 at 3:30 PM
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
I just got a server error at home :(
August 13, 2025 at 1:20 AM
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
What an absolute joy and privilege to see @corriemoreau.bsky.social give a beautiful talk for her SSB Presidential Address at #Evol2025 this morning! A beautiful interweaving of scientific and bigger-picture lessons for us all. ❤️🐜
Corrie Moreau, a brunette woman in a black top and skirt, stands on a stage looking at a project slide with a photo and an illustration herself as a child on it.
June 22, 2025 at 1:28 PM
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
Always a bit in awe at how beautiful these Cephalotes clypeatus are (so much so that they inspired my lab's logo!).
A hand holding an insect pin with three golden-colored ants mounted on it. The label below indicates that they were identified as "Zacryptocerus clypeatus".
January 27, 2025 at 6:56 PM
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
No better use of a break in the work day than poking around in the collection here at @nhmla.bsky.social! So excited to steward, use, and grow this collection over the coming years.
A drawer full of miscellaneous pinned true bug (Hemipteran) specimens, most of which are brown and orange, but some with bright greens and blues. Two pinned specimens of Trengganua sibylla, a cicada species from Southeast Asia. They look a lot like moths, with brown and green colorful spread wings.
January 16, 2025 at 11:20 PM
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
One of the last tasks of my Ph.D.: depositing voucher specimens from my dissertation work.

Pretty neat that ants collected by me- and my dad!- get to live next to those collected by @corriemoreau.bsky.social and E. O. Wilson! 🐜🤩
An image of many pinned and labelled turtle ant specimens from a natural history collection. Labels indicate they were collected primarily by Corrie S. Moreau, with some collected by E. O. Wilson, Steven N. Barkdull, and Megan Barkdull.
December 9, 2024 at 3:17 PM