Insect Agency

Overview

Queensland is home to 349 different species of butterflies — and until Sunday, July 7, 2024, you can see most of them at Queensland Museum. The fluttering insects aren't alone at South Bank. Their company? An exhibition featuring more than 1700 specimens of creepy crawlies. Drawn from the venue's extension collection, this showcase is all about appreciating beetles, moths, ants, flies, mosquitos, cicadas, crickets, mantids, wasps, bees and more in a new light.

You'll be bugged in the best kind of way while exploring Insect Agency, which is free, brand new and developed by QM, and running in tandem with the Entomological Society of Queensland's centenary celebrations. The exhibition is split into themes, covering insect bodies, the fact that there's more insects on earth than any other type of creature and special abilities specific to insects.

Expect to learn plenty of interesting tidbits while you peer at insects great and small. Did you know that Australia is home to almost 500 species of dung beetles? Or that there's a Dracula ant that can snap its jaw shut at 320 kilometres per hour? You do now.

From December, you can pair these minibeasts with dinosaurs, albeit of the Lego variety, all thanks to Jurassic World by Brickman — although that part requires a paid ticket.

Images: Papilio ulysses (Ulysses butterfly), Megachile macularis (a leafcutter bee) and Onthophagus dandalu (dung beetle), Queensland Museum.