Introducing West Africa’s largest insect collection
Quick facts
IITA’s insect collection is based in Benin
It is the most extensive insect collection in West Africa
It has 366,000 insect species
Museum houses both pests and beneficial insects
Offers free insect identification services
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. “Look around you,” Georg tells me with a look of amusement on his face. I look, nothing. “Lookup”, 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, “look again”, 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 sorts of enormous insects.
