INSECT 8,910!!

Well, we reached our goal back in mid-July! 8,910 fossil insects have been photographed and cataloged (This post is a bit late as we had been busy with fieldwork for the last two weeks)!

And here it is, our 8,910th fossil insect, in all of it’s glory:

VMNH99235; Backswimmer water bug

These mile-marking numbers never are quite spectacular, are they? We do have some spectacular fossil insects, but mostly, we have a lot of fossils that are a bit boring or lack some of the flashier, soft tissue aspects- so perhaps it is fitting that the numbers that represent progress are a bit run-of-the-mill…it certainly makes sense considering the ratios of the fossil remains.

Were we excited anyway? Why, yes, we were!

Hooray!!

I say we should take a moment to reflect back on some of the more impressive fossils we have found, and highlight them now. Please imagine, or even click to open some Triumphant, sentimental music to accompany the slide show:

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Now we are working on creating labels and organizing the specimens to better serve future researchers as well as provide space for additional fossil insects as they come into the museum.