Carnegie Museum of Natural History

One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Blogs about Pittsburgh

Carnegie Museum of Natural History is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Many of the museum's collection specimens are from the local area, including our Botany, Invertebrate Paleontology, and Herpetology specimens. Our collections and our community often influence our work, whether that includes researching climate change, air pollution improvements from the closing of steel mills in the city, or invasive species.

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Greater Black-letter Dart Moth

moth face on

by Vanessa Verdecia 

Our Section of Invertebrate Zoology had another species of moths eclose this month. These images show the last instar caterpillar, the pupa, and two images of the adult.  We reared these caterpillars that hatched from eggs laid by a female moth caught in Ohio, but this species also occurs here in Pennsylvania.

Common name: Greater Black-letter Dart Moth
Scientific name: Xestia dolosa, in the family Noctuidae

moth top down

Vanessa Verdecia is a collection assistant in the museum’s Invertebrate Zoology Section. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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Bones in the Basement

Bones on a shelf

by Hayley Pontia
If you thought there were a lot of bones on display in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, think again. Many of the 22 million objects and scientific specimens in the museum’s collection are kept in storage and used for scientific research.

Amy Henrici, Collection Manager for Vertebrate Paleontology, manages the Vertebrate Paleontology collection, which houses fossils that span through 465 million years of prehistoric history. It is the fourth largest collection in the country and includes 79,464 catalogued specimens: 80 percent are mammals, 11 percent fish, 5 percent reptiles (including 690 dinosaur fossils), 3 percent amphibians, and .5 percent birds.

Most of the dinosaur specimens are archived in the Big Bone Room and the Little Bone Room. Contrary to popular belief, the description of these rooms is in relation to the space available, not the size of the bones.

Little bone room door

Hayley Pontia is the marketing assistant at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and a student at the University of Pittsburgh. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences of working at the museum.

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Reclaiming Nature

Bridge over lotus pond
Bridge over lotus pond
A once dead pond is now alive
A once dead pond is now alive
Storytime on a toad stool
Storytime on a toad stool
Human sized bird's nest
Human sized bird’s nest
three chickens in a cage
Chickens protect the plants

sign explaining that chickens eat both bugs and plants

by Kathleen Bodenlos

Pittsburgh has a reputation for transforming itself. Once a grimy industrialized city, we have become a network of neighborhoods with green spaces, bike trails, culturally rich attractions, and a thriving economy. The Pittsburgh Botanic Garden mirrors our transformation story.

Reclaiming land from Pittsburgh’s industrial past, they transformed land and ponds into an artistic nature experience. Acres that were once farmed, logged and mined have been reinvented and now offer hiking trails, flowers, and surprising works of art. A Monet worthy pond that was once filled with acid is now alive with lotus. Barred Rock Chickens protect the plants through their natural diet of insects and also help to fertilize the crops.

The gardens offer plenty of surprises for kids from a giant bird nest that could fit a large human family to an enchanted area for reading time complete with toadstools on which to perch.

With 460 acres left to steward, it seems this impressive example of reclamation has only just begun.

Kathleen Bodenlos is the Director of Marketing at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Passionate about nature, art, and travel she enjoys visiting other organizations with a similar focus on conservation and education.

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These specimens on display at Carnegie Museum of Natural History

display of bumblebees

These specimens on display at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh were not collected by museum scientists.

Local insect entusiasts Robert and Tressa Surdick who lived in Bethel Park, a suburb of Pittsburgh, spent their lives collecting insects from all over Western Pennsylvania. Bob visited the museum as a teen to examine the entomology collections.

When Bob passed away in 2012, he donated his collection of more than 100,000 beautifully prepared insects, including the bumblebees shown above.

A portion of his collection is now displayed near the landing of the Grand Staircase, where it catches the attention of young bug lovers each day.