Artist Minna Fernald donated over 320 paintings of Florida wildflowers to the university in 1942, providing a rich record of the state’s past ecological life. 🥀 Forgotten for decades, rediscovered watercolor collection features hundreds of Florida plants www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/wate...

Museum Collections 🐌 Native & Invasive Land Snails Florida’s Rosy Wolf Snail were introduced to Pacific islands to control invasive snails like the Giant African Snail. Unfortunately, they devastated native snail populations instead. 🎧 With John Slapcinsky: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100-years/ob...

Museum Collections 🧺 Seminole and Miccosukee Baskets 👉 www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/sflarch/ethn... Basket making techniques vary widely and depends on the material used — coiling, twining, plaiting, and stake & strand. Seminole and Miccosukee baskets are made using the plaited and coiling methods.

Museum Resource 🐟 Fishes in the Fresh Waters of Florida Explore our state's freshwater fish species, including collection records, photos and map. Shown: Dollar Sunfish (Lepomis marginatus), indigenous to Florida's freshwaters 🔗 More info & browse gallery: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fis...

Gustav Paulay, curator of our invertebrate zoology collection, recently joined an OceanX bioblitz off the coast of Timor-Leste in Southeast Asia. Jump to the OceanX video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6-x... Read (and watch) about this ambitious bioblitz: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/museum-blog/...

Hundreds of New Species in 2 Weeks? Inside a Real-Life Ocean BioBlitz

YouTube video by OceanX

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Scientists have developed a model to predict the age of zebra sharks - an epigenetic clock - a useful tool for protecting endangered sharks and restoring wild populations. 🦈 Story: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/scie... Study: doi.org/10.1111/mec.... 📸: @aquariumpacific.bsky.social

Museum Collections 🔬 Secret Morphology Lepidopterists can often look at butterfly and moth wing patterns to help identify them, but not always. They sometimes have to rely on – genitalia dissection. Read about this with our McGuire Center: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mcguire/news...

Museum Collections 🦪 Invertebrate Paleontology Galleries #MolluskMonday From crabs to sea biscuits, browse fossil specimens in our invertebrate paleontology collection: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/invertpaleo/... Featured Species: Turritella wagneriana Specimen: # UF 9742 Location: Sarasota Co., FL

“If you go to the neotropics, Colobura is one of the first butterflies you see,” said Anisha Sapkota. Rather than clarifying the evolutionary history of Colobura, discovering one species was actually three here has resulted in a lot of head scratching: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/this...

A rare intact Potano-Timucua pot was excavated by @ufl.edu students during fieldwork at a local mission site. Artifacts at this site are revealing the story of the village that once thrived in what is now a shady patch of woods not far from campus. Story: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/stud...

Museum Resource 🐍 Florida Snake ID Guide Easy visual ID and searchable tool for learning about our state's snakes including habitat, range, diet & lookalikes. Featured: Dekay’s Brownsnake (Storeria dekayi) Snake profile: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-snak... NON-VENOMOUS

Dekay’s Brownsnake

NON-VENOMOUS Other common names Brown Snake Basic description Most adult Dekay’s Brownsnakes are about 9-13 inches (23-33 cm) in total length. These snakes are small, thin, and may be grayish-brown or...

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Exhibit #SciArt 🪸 Florida Miocene Paintings in our exhibit help to illustrate Florida's evolving ecosystems over time as changing sea levels exposed or submerged our peninsula. 🗝️ The art + species key: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/exhibits/blo... Bonus specimen: Melongena sculpturata, # UF 114310

FDOT extended a grant for our curator Jaret Daniels and his lab to grow, plant & monitor milkweeds along Florida roads. The goal is to understand how to create the most effective environmental corridors for monarch butterflies & pollinators in FL. Story: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/butt...

Museum Resource 🐟 Fishes in the Fresh Waters of Florida Explore our state's freshwater fish species, including collection records, photos and map. Shown: Shadow Bass (Ambloplites ariommus), indigenous to Florida's freshwaters 🔗 More info & browse gallery: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fis...

Museum Collections 🎺 Coral Honeysuckle Popular Florida-native vine that attracts butterflies & hummingbirds! More from UF/IFAS: gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/ornam... Herbarium feat.: Lonicera sempervirens Specimen: # FLAS 193161 Loc.: Levy County, FL www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/herbarium/

Work with us! 🐟 Assistant Curator of Ichthyology This is a 12-month, tenure-track position 👇 🔸 Full info: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/nhdept/caree... 🔸 Apply via @ufl.edu: explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/54... 🔸 About us: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/nhdept/ 🏛️📌 Apply by Aug. 21, 2026

July 19 🔦 Nocturnal Neighbors: Insect Diversity and Puppets Learn about the biodiversity of nighttime insects and get inspired to make shadow puppets with our lepidopterist Vaughn Shirey and local artist Angela DeCarlis. Pre-register for this FREE event: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/event/noctur...

This story about the Caibbean, plants called melastomes, and bird flight paths includes an homage to the late Walter Judd (1951 – 2026), a beloved botanist and colleague. Story: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/scie...

Conservation #GoodNews 🦋 10 Years of Butterflies + Beer Our scientists and First Magnitude brewers collaborated on a new way to think about butterfly conservation. Turns out the community loves supporting pollinators at a party with snacks + beer: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/museum-blog/... 🦋🍺🌱

Ten years of brewing conservation with butterfly beers

Ten years ago, scientists at the Florida Museum of Natural History wondered if they could persuade the community to raise a pint to butterfly conservation. Eighteen beer launches later, Gainesville ha...

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Rice fueled many of the earliest civilizations and remains an indispensable source of food in the modern world. That might be about to change. Scientists warn that after 9,000 years of cultivation, rice has reached its thermal limit: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/afte... Photo: Jialiang Gao

Museum Collections 🏷️ Ancient Art Feature: Plaque with Painted Woodpecker, dates to ~AD 650-750 “Woodpeckers are revered by many southeastern Indian people because of their roles in origin stories and as symbols of war.” 🎧 More with Bill Marquardt: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100-years/ob...

Museum Collections 🌿 Perfect pitcher Pitcherplants thrive in Florida's wetlands, especially the Gulf Coastal Plain. More from UF/IFAS: ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/... Herbarium feat. Species: Sarracenia rosea Specimen: # FLAS 139652 Collected: 1979, Walter Judd www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/herbarium/

Museum Collections 🐕 Doggo fossil Osbornodon iamonensis is an omnivorous, coyote-sized member of the dog family that lived in Florida during the early Miocene. Species: Osbornodon iamonensis Specimen: # UF/FGS 5255 *HOLOTYPE* More: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vert...

Museum Collections 🏺 Ceramic Type Gallery Our type collections of historic period archaeological ceramics (1492-1850) includes thousands of images of individual sherds, representing hundreds of different ceramic types. Browse and search: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/histarch/cer...

This butterfly was really three caterpillars in a trench coat 🐛🐛🐛 Butterflies in the genus Colobura are ubiquitous in C. & S. America. For 200 years, this genus was thought to contain one species. Turns out there were two more hiding in plain sight. www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/this...

Ten years ago, our Daniels Lab scientists and the brewers at First Magnitude collaborated on a new way to think about butterfly conservation. They decided to ask the community to raise a pint to raise awareness. #PollinatorWeek 🦋 Looking back and forward: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/museum-blog/...

When we think about pollinators, bees and butterflies are often the first to come to mind. But there are many other types of insects, and even some vertebrates, that can act as pollinators and also deserve appreciation: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/cele... #PollinatorWeek 🌻 June 22-28, 2026

#SciArt Spotlight 🐗 Florida Oligocene Art in our Florida Fossils exhibit helps to illustrate what Florida might have looked like as the sea levels dropped and animals migrated to this newly exposed land. 🗝️ Check out the art + key: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/exhibits/blo... 🖼️: by Carl Buell

Museum Collections 🐁 Rare, Beautiful & Fascinating Feature: Southeastern Beach Mice “There are 8 species of beach mice that are found all along the coasts of Florida and Alabama, although one is already considered to be extinct.” 🎧 More with Verity Mathis www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100-years/ob...

We're hiring! 🐟 Assistant Curator of Ichthyology This is a 12-month, tenure-track position 👇 🔸 Full info: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/nhdept/caree... 🔸 Apply via @ufl.edu: explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/54... 🔸 About the Dept. of Natural History, Florida Museum: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/nhdept/