Texas 4-H Entomology

My rising senior is busy preparing for Texas 4-H State Round-up in two weeks. Little containers of arthropods have been roaming in both freezers all year as she has been adding to her collection. She has been pulling them out, putting them into the relaxing chamber, and pinning them for the last two weeks.

Last year was her first year to dive into to the entomology project. She studied for the entomology ID contest that occurs at State Round-up each June at Texas A&M University. She collected specimens and watch video after video about identification, preserving, and pinning them. Her collection did not place, however she placed 4th in the ID contest!

This year, she has been continuing to grow her collection and explore career options with entomology. She participated in live online training sessions with a wonderful extension agent out of San Antonio’s Texas Agrilife office this fall, but due to family illness, she was unable to participate in the District 10 entomology ID contest at 4-H Fall Round-up. However, she has continued to review her notes and videos to refresh all the classification and identification info that she will need for the contest.

If you have a kid interested in bugs and are curious about the 4-H entomology project, here are some resources to check out-

This website has great study guides: https://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/4-h-entomology-id-contest-guidelines/

The Texas 4-H entomology project page has very useful guides: https://texas4-h.tamu.edu/projects/entomology/

Bexar County has a YouTube channel of entomology study videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg0SKSn9RMU2Cc-vJ_tvKVGCgWTCwwBPK

Specimens are grouped by taxonomic order and labeled with common name and info about when and where the specimen was collected.

There are certain sizes of display boxes that can be used for the collections. If more than one box is needed, it is important that the boxes be the same size. We found a lift top display box at Hobby Lobby that Ella liked. We bought a second one for this year’s growing collection.

There are multiple career fields that involve entomology: forensics, medicine, agriculture, ecology, etc. The 4-H entomology program is a great way to introduce students to this field of study, whether for a career or just as a hobby.