The Florida Museum of Natural History inspires people to care about life on Earth. Located on the University of Florida campus, we are also the state museum.
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 BioBlitzYouTube video by OceanXwww.youtube.comScientists 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 BrownsnakeNON-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...www.floridamuseum.ufl.eduExhibit #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 beersTen 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...www.floridamuseum.ufl.eduRice 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...