Insect Collections: Why?

Why do we have massive insect collections? The reasons for massive insect collections differ among the hobbyists and the institutions such as the natural history museums and national collections. Here we discus seven of the reasons why we have massive insect collections that we just keep on growing. In the future we will be looking at various collection methods, how to prepare and preserve specimens and how to curate a collections and keep track of all the specimens. Bonus links for those that read the comments (Read each photos descriptoin to appreciate it in full): Baobab long horn beetle (39.2 mega pixel photo stitched from 332 photos): https://www.flickr.com/photos/bugmanl... Treehopper close up (focus stack from 48 photos): https://www.flickr.com/photos/bugmanl... Ground beetle (24.14 mega pixel photo stitched from 271 photos): https://www.flickr.com/photos/bugmanl...