Two people stand before a white sheet in an arid forest at twilight.
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Who are the moth hunters?

Meet the citizen scientists who are, literally, discovering new species in their backyards.

Illustration showing animals that lived from 635 million years–2.6 million years ago
Visit Melbourne Museum

600 Million Years: Victoria Evolves

How did life on Earth come to be the way it is and what happened in our part of the world?

Worker bees with pollen stored in beehive cells.
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Discover Documentary: Bees

In this episode of Discover, Dr. Ken Walker takes us into Museums Victoria's Entomology Collection. As an expert in native bees, he explains how these tiny creatures have a major global impact.

Black and orange beetle on a flower
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What are these swarming beetles in my garden?

Each January, the Museum receives many enquiries about swarms of beetles in suburban gardens in and around Melbourne

Black wasp
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Predator vs predator

Wasps give huntsman spiders a taste of their own medicine.

Image taken by a microscope of a bees head
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Buzz off!

How do you study a bee so small it can barely be seen? 

Cockroach
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Bountiful Mallee

Close encounters with Mallee insects.

Moth specimens in a museum collection
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Butterflies of the night

The aim of the "George Lyell Collection: Australian entomology past and present" project is to examine the George Lyell collection scientifically and culturally, and to share discoveries with the wider community.

A pressed orchid specimen.
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Pressed Orchids

Unlike their Asian counterparts, Australian orchids like the rosy spider orchid, pictured below, are beautifully understated. Delicate and beautiful, they are not flashy like the orchids available at your local nursery.

Sepia portrait of a young man
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The sting of the final letter

Transcribing George Lyell's final documents.

Mirabilis (female) from the George Lyell Collection at Melbourne Museum.
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Light sheets

Peter Marriott talks moth bioscans in the Otways for National Science Week at Melbourne Museum.

Portrait of Dr G.A. Waterhouse arranging specimens in his collection at the Australian Museum, 2 February 1931.
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Kindred spirits

Between 1891 and 1947, George Lyell and Gustavus Athol Waterhouse's regular correspondence shared a passion for moths and butterflies.

“Butterflies of Australia” (1914) proofs from the Museums Victoria Archives
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Moths are beautiful too

At October's Nocturnal event, a multidisciplinary team of Museum workers and a guest speaker from University of Melbourne got together to present items from the George Lyell Collection to visitors.

Professor Deirdre Coleman, Nik McGrath and Simon Hinkley in the ABC Radio Melbourne Studio, 19 November 2019.
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On the wing

Professor Deirdre Coleman, Nik McGrath and Simon Hinkley join Richelle Hunt in the ABC Radio Melbourne Studio.

Portrait of a young man
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George Lyell's letters

In addition to the development of his moth and butterfly collection, George Lyell’s letters reveal much about his personal relationships.

A black and white image of a toadlet.
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Under fire: The animals threatened by Australia’s bushfire crisis

If there’s one place in the world that knows about extinction, it’s a natural history museum.

A white Eastern Grey Kangaroo
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Colour Variations: It doesn't look like that in the book

If an animal looks different to what you see in the field guides, there are many possible explanations - some more surprising than others.

a platypus perched on a log
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The platypus: a unique and vulnerable Australian

What can we do to help the platypus?

a small scorpion glowing green under uv light
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Glowing animals: understanding bioluminescence and biofluorescence

What do a Platypus, a Dragonfish and a Scorpion all have in common?

A photo of the front of the Melbourne Museum
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Birthday honours: 21 of our favourite things about the Melbourne Museum

Fascinating facts about Melbourne’s favourite museum.

a bat hanging upside down
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More Australian species added to the endangered list

Without action, museum collections may be the only evidence some of these endangered species existed.

A striped Tasmanian Tiger looking off into the distance
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Lunar New Year: 10 Australian tigers

Think you know tigers? What about those found in Australia? 

a hand drawn map of Melbourne city grid
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How poo shapes a city (and other scatalogical stories)

What do Melbourne’s laneways, the Spotswood Pumping Station at Scienceworks, and termite mounds all have in common?

a composite image of three drawings: a kangaroo, snake, and cassowary
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A glimpse into the past, to enlighten the future of biodiversity on Earth

What can we learn from the first scientific descriptions of animals and the Earth’s biodiversity, written hundreds of years ago?

an upside down praying mantis posing
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Live bugs, in a museum?

What does the thought of picking up a bug do to you? It’s just a day in the life for our Live Exhibits keepers. 

a small bee sitting on. pink flower next to a larger bee
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From A to Bee: Australian bees need our help, but which ones?

We rely on bees for so much, but do you know the difference between the iconic European Honey Bee and Australian native bees? And what you can do to help them?

Five girls looking for marine life on a boat.
Museums Victoria Collections

Help us document biodiversity – record your own sightings

Pinned butterfly in box with paper label.
Museums Victoria Collections

Australia's oldest insect specimen

A Common Evening Brown collected in China in 1742.

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