Beyond Bones

There is a new addition to the Cockrell Butterfly Center Insect Zoo, a colony of leaf-cutter ants housed in a brand new exhibit! This leaf-cutter ant (Atta cephalotes) colony was acquired by the Cockrell Butterfly Center about 2.5 years ago from Guatemala. It began as a small, “softball-sized” colony that now has grown many times […]

Lecture – Beauty and Morphology of Insects by Erin Mills Characteristics and adaptations of these unique and misunderstood creatures will be explored by Erin Mills, Director of the Cockrell Butterfly Center. Living exotic beetles, giant katydids, walking sticks, hissing cockroaches, beautiful butterflies and other exciting arthropods will compliment this special presentation and tour of the […]

  With National Pollinator Week behind us, it may be easy to focus on other issues and forget that pollinators need our help to bounce back. While many people only envision little honeybees when they think about pollinators, they couldn’t be a more diverse group of animals, including mammals, birds, insects, and even reptiles! Here […]

In 2013 a unique aberration made its appearance at the Cockrell Butterfly Center.  A Great Southern White (Ascia monuste) butterfly emerged from its chrysalis with a perfect bilateral split down the center of its body. One side of the butterfly was male, the other was female. Since the Great Southern White is a sexually dimorphic […]