{"id":13684,"date":"2026-06-20T12:29:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/introducing-west-africas-largest-insect-collection\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:36:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:36:54","slug":"introducing-west-africas-largest-insect-collection","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/introducing-west-africas-largest-insect-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing West Africa\u2019s largest insect collection"},"content":{"rendered":"
Quick facts<\/em><\/strong><\/h5>\nIITA\u2019s insect collection is based in Benin<\/em>\nIt is the most extensive insect collection in West Africa<\/em>\nIt has 366,000 insect species<\/em>\nMuseum houses both pests and beneficial insects<\/em>\nOffers free insect identification services<\/em>\n\nHow do you catch all these insects? How do you know where they are? Do you go into the bushes with a net and wave it in the air? There were so many questions that I kept asking as I stood perplexed. \u201cLook around you,\u201d Georg tells me with a look of amusement on his face. I look, nothing. \u201cLookup\u201d, he directs my gaze. I look and spot what looks like a giant spider at whose sight I wince a little. Georg, amused, lets out a loud laugh, \u201clook again\u201d, he encourages me further. This time I let my eyes roam the entire room, which is about 40 by 40 ft; all over the walls are all kinds of enormous insects.\n\n
\"Introducing
Georg Georgen, an entomologist and head of IITA’s insect museum in Cotonou, Benin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\nBy this time, I was almost screaming until my eyes rest on a colossal grasshopper and with a little more scrutiny, I realize they are plastic insects \u2013 decorations. Georg is laughing, clearly enjoying my scared reaction. \u201cInsects are everywhere; you don\u2019t see them because you are not looking for them. That is how it starts; we go out in the natural environment and look for them. First, we see the big ones, but as we look closely, we even see the tinier ones\u201d. This is a scene from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)\u2019s\u00a0Biodiversity Centre based in Cotonou, Benin<\/a>. It is West Africa\u2019s biggest insect museum or \u201cinsect collection\u201d as IITA\u2019s entomologist and biocontrol specialist,\u00a0Goergen Georg<\/a>\u00a0prefers to call it.\n\nI am sure you have as many questions as I had. Insect museum? Why collect insects, how does one collect insects, who on earth collects insects? I put all these and more questions to Georg, a jolly man of German descent who grew up in Morocco playing with spiders and scorpions. No wonder he heads IITA\u2019s insect collection. In a lightly air-conditioned room with blue cabinets lay 366,000 insect species. With a playful look and almost permanent smile, Georg, who laughs easily, eagerly shows me one insect collection after another. Some are quite pretty I must admit. The beetles have a vibrant sapphire green colour, and the house flies in the collection are not nasty pit latrine hopping creatures, they are a luxurious shimmery blue. Why collect insects, I ask as Georg pulls out another blue cabinet to reveal beautiful butterflies.In another drawer, I see spiders, and I let out a gasp. We need to stop looking at insects, so I insist on getting my question answered, why? \u201cI\u2019ll tell you, be patient\u201d, Georg hushes as he pulls out yet more drawers. It\u2019s evident he\u2019s proud of the work he and his team are doing. \u201cSome are pretty rare\u201d, he adds as he pulls out another cabinet. Later, after he is done showing off his impressive collection, he answers my question, why collect insects?\n\n
\"Introducing
Some of the insects in the museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\nPurpose of the collection<\/strong>\n\n\u201cWe exist to offer a free identification service for any insect that is of concern to agriculture or health,\u201d Georg says. \u201cOver time, we have developed a reputation that we offer this service, and in return, we are often the first to be informed of new pests in West Africa. This was the case with the Fall armyworm (FAW). Once our partners proved that they were confronted with a new pest, they sent us samples for identification.\u201d Georg and his team went ahead and identified the FAW as a new and invasive species on the African continent. Read about the fall armyworm and its discovery\u00a0here.<\/a>\n\nHistory <\/strong>\n\nCGIAR<\/a>-IITA\u2019s insect collection emerged from the first biocontrol success in Africa, which was targeted at the cassava mealybug. Scientists studied the cassava mealybug food web as well as its most efficient and effective natural enemy. However, in reviewing the mealybug\u2019s natural enemies, the researchers were confronted with the lack of a facility to identify samples locally. \u201cAll samples were sent abroad for identification, which was characterized by long delays in both dispatch and response\u201d. It is against that background and the regional need for \u00a0an arthropod diagnostic service that IITA decided to open its own identification center. What started as a small insect collection at IITA\u2019s headquarters in Ibadan, Nigeria was later moved to Cotonou in Benin at the Institute\u2019s biocontrol centre. From 1,000 specimens in Ibadan, the insect collection now boasts of 366,000 specimens and more than 6,000 identified species, making it the best insect collection in West Africa with both pests and beneficial insects.\n\nThis growth has come mostly from material kept from past projects, as Georg explains: \u201cIn the past, when a project would end, the identified materials would be discarded, which was a pity because they were valuable references. The insects are now preserved permanently so that future projects could benefit from them.\u201d Permanent preservation is possible because of the suitable conditions in the museum, such as controlled access. One cannot have direct access to the collection; they must pass through two doors which limits unnecessary movement. The room is also permanently air-conditioned with back-up generators in case of electricity outage. The windows are not only small to avoid exposure to sunlight, but they are also never opened. Georg explains the rationale, \u201cInsects decay mostly from fungi, attack from fellow insects and exposure to sunlight. If these conditions are minimized, then permanent preservation is possible.\u201d\n\n
\"Introducing
Beetles in the insect collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\nThere are so many insects of the same species, i.e., several kinds of houseflies, butterflies, bees, or beetles, and there is a reason for this. \u201cWe collect everything we can get from different regions. It may seem like a waste to the untrained mind, but nothing is never in vain, as Georg explains. \u201cWhen the opportunity availed itself, we collected aquatic beetles, and everyone wondered whether we had gone bonkers. Then, ten years later, it was discovered that aquatic beetles are involved in the transmission of the\u00a0Buruli ulcer<\/a>, a locally emerging infectious skin disease. Suddenly, everyone was interested in what type of aquatic insects we have in West Africa, and thankfully we had preserved some of them.\u201d That is why, when Georg or anyone on his team, find themselves in a new environment, they collect a sample that is representative of the region\u2019s insects\u2014you never know when you will need them! \u201cThe idea is to store them and come back anytime by looking into the cabinets \u2013 i.e. the museum \u2013 because the past helps us to master current problems\u201d. Also, one cannot know if a species is new to the continent or not without any reference. In the case of the Fall Armyworm, Georg says they would never have known that it was alien to Africa if they had not collected other moths to which it was compared.\n\n \n\nSo, there it is\u2014the collection is essential to identifying and studying new invasive and beneficial insects as well as finding an effective biocontrol measure, i.e., natural enemies that can suppress an insect pest. Over the years, IITA has used natural enemies (beneficial insects) to control pests such as the cassava mealybug. Biocontrol of cassava mealybug delivered the highest return on investment in the history of the CGIAR. A Benefit:Cost ratio of 149:1, meaning every $1 invested in cassava mealybug biocontrol gave a return of $149. Other noteworthy biocontrol successes include controlling the water hyacinth on Lake Victoria, the world\u2019s largest fresh water body, using weevils. . The water fern in Congo Brazzaville was also entirely controlled by introducing a specific weevil.\n\nFind out more about the use of natural enemies in the control of pests, here<\/a>\u00a0et\u00a0here<\/a>.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you catch all these insects? How do you know they are here? Do you go into the bushes with a net and wave it in the air? There were so many questions that I kept asking as I stood perplexed. \u201cLook around you,\u201d Georg tells me with a look of amusement on his face.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":13685,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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