The Newfoundland Insectarium is a museum

insectarium An insectarium is a live insect zoo, or a museum or exhibit of live insects. Insectariums often display a variety of insects and similar arthropods, such as spiders, beetles, cockroaches, ants, bees, millipedes, centipedes, crickets, grasshoppers ...

located in

Reidville, Newfoundland and Labrador Reidville is a village located north east of Deer Lake. A post office was established in 1967 and the first Postmisstress was Dorothy Barrett. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Reidville had a popul ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. The main display features a wide variety of mounted insects from around the world, organized by geographical region. One exhibit covers the insects of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. Live arthropods are dispersed around the mounted displays, including

tarantulas Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always en ...

s, and

cockroach Cockroaches (or roaches) are a paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known ...

es. The museum also includes a glass

beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...

with live

honeybees A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current c ...

, a leafcutter ant colony, a recently extended butterfly house and a walking trail. The Newfoundland Insectarium was founded by Lloyd Hollett and Gary Holloway and opened in 1998. Lloyd Hollett is now the primary owner and director. Hollett and his wife now run the Insectarium along with seasonal student employees from May to October yearly. It is located along Route 430 on the road to

Gros Morne National Park Gros Morne National Park is a National Parks of Canada, Canadian national park and World Heritage Site located on the west coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Newfoundland. At , it is the second largest national park in Atlantic Canada after To ...

, and as of July 1, 2011 has received over 250,000 visitors. The building itself was formerly a

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Alle ...

, and was originally built in 1946. The original cedar frame is still in place. In 2014 the Newfoundland Insectarium was named the best indoor attraction in Newfoundland by TripAdvisor.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Insectariums Museums in Newfoundland and Labrador Natural history museums in Canada