Where insects come from
Every insect has a journey behind it: the ancestors its lineage descends from, the homeland it arose in, the ranges it spread into on its own, and the places people carried it to — in cargo, in crops, on purpose, by accident. Entomapology draws that journey on the globe, from deep time to today.
Entomology
The honey bee in an American orchard is a European import of 1622; the Africanized one in Texas descends from African queens that escaped a Brazilian lab in 1957. Some origins are still argued over — the map says so rather than settling them.
How to use the map
- Search an insect, by common or scientific name in the bar above. Anything already traced appears as you type and loads instantly.
- Play the journey with the button at the bottom, or drag the timeline. Hover a marker for its stage and use Prev / Next — or the ← → keys — to walk the journey at your own pace.
- Lines are descent and spread; arcs are introductions by people; a ring with no path is a lineage that arose where it already was. The legend at the bottom left has the rest.
- Click a marker to see the lineage's relatives — its sister species and lineages, each where it lives.
- This panel lists every stage in order; scrolling it flies the map. Tuck it away with › for a clear map.
- Insects nobody has traced yet take about a minute to work out from scratch. Sign in to be the first — after that it’s instant for everyone.
Insect of the day