Research, Science & environment

Essig’s SFO exhibition showcases six-legged frequent fliers

You can see the collection before the security lines in the International Terminal

By Kara Manke

Tan and gold moths in a display drawer — Moths on display at the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. Items in these photographs are on loan from UC Berkeley’s Essig Museum of Entomology. (Peter Oboyski photo)

April 26, 2019

Colorful butterfly specimens in a display drawer — Butterflies on display at the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. (Peter Oboyski photo)

A display case of bright blue and green beetle and butterfly specimens — A drawer of colorful butterfly and beetle specimens on display at the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. These animals’ bright blue markings arise not from colored pigments, but from intricate nano-structures on the wing surface that trap all light wavelengths other than blue. (Peter Oboyski photo)

A colorful wooden model of a beetle — A foot-long, anatomically correct model of a cockchafer beetle, created in 1881 as a teaching tool for entomology students and currently on display at the the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. (Peter Oboyski photo)

A wooden model of a beetle — A foot-long, anatomically correct model of a cockchafer beetle, created in 1881 as a teaching tool for entomology students and currently on display at the the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. (Peter Oboyski photo)

A white Egyptian scarab carving — An ancient Egyptian scarab on display at the the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. (Deisy Ramos photo)

A red-colored Egyptian scarab — An ancient Egyptian scarab on display at the the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. (Deisy Ramos photo)

Wood that is covered in an intricate pattern from termites — Insect-damaged wood on display at the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. (Peter Oboyski photo)

A cross-section of a tree trunk with termite holes running through it — Insect-damaged wood on display at the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. (Peter Oboyski photo)

A piece of amber with vague outlines of termites inside — Termites trapped in amber, on display at the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. (Peter Oboyski photo)

A display drawer of cricket and grasshopper specimens — A drawer of Orthopteroid specimens, otherwise known as roaches, crickets, grasshoppers, and mantids, on display at the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. Unlike butterflies and beetles, Orthopteroids do not go through a pupal stage: juveniles look like adult grasshoppers and roaches, but without wings. (Peter Oboyski photo)

A display drawer of dragonfly and damselfly specimens — A drawer of dragonfly and damselfly specimens on display at the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. These insects were among the first to evolve wings around 325 million years ago. (Peter Oboyski photo)

A close up of the wing and body of a — An Anax junius or "green darner" dragonfly on display at the SFO Museum’s Intriguing World of Insects exhibit. (Peter Oboyski photo)

Travelers beware: a swarm of six-legged frequent fliers will soon land at San Francisco International Airport.

The airport museum’s new “The Intriguing World of Insects” exhibition, opening tomorrow in the pre-security area of the International Terminal, will feature specimens, sculptures and models of some of Earth’s most stunning creepy crawlies, from butterflies and moths to cockroaches and beetles. Most of the exhibits are on loan from UC Berkeley’s Essig Museum of Entomology.

The exhibition, which runs April 27 to August 18, will give insect fans a rare glimpse into the Essig’s collection of over five million objects, including termites trapped in amber, Egyptian scarabs dating to 1500 B.C., and wood pieces patterned by hungry termites. The exhibition also features photographs by David Garnick and sculptures by Gar Waterman.

Pete Oboyski, curator of the Essig Museum, says one of his favorite items is a foot-long model of a cockchafer beetle, created by a French physician in 1881, which splits open to reveal anatomically accurate organs.

“We hope people see just how amazingly beautiful and intricate insects are,” Oboyski said. “Once you get to see them up close, they are not as scary as we thought they were – or maybe they are even more so.”