David Pryce, an experienced entomologist, has joined Perth Museum and Art Gallery to work on an insect collection of national significance.
In his new post, which has been funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, he will be applying his expertise to the museum’s Francis Buchanan White Collection of Hemiptera, focusing on publicising and cataloguing the varied and valuable specimens within it.
Francis Buchanan White founded the Perthshire Society for Natural Sciences in 1867 and his collection of butterflies, moths, beetles and true bugs forms the core part of the museum’s collection of insects and is of national significance.
True bugs are a group of insects scientifically termed Hemiptera and are so-called to distinguish them from the general word ‘bug’ which is used to describe any insect.
The collection of true bugs at the George Street museum contains over 10,000 specimens with approximately two-thirds of these from abroad.
