February 18, 1998
Entomologist bugs museum goers with his creepy insect collection
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Bugs don't bug Duke Elsner. In fact, the more the merrier is his motto.
Creepy crawly critters of all kinds are a common sight around his Traverse City home, filling shelves and even showing up in the freezer.
You see, the line between his day job and his lifetime hobby is as thin as a butterfly's wing. Elsner, an entomologist and Michigan State University Cooperative Extension Service agent, is a bug nut.
His collection of more than 100 species of butterflies and 100 species of moths, as well as bees, wasps and beetles, is now on display in the Community Gallery of the Con Foster Historical Museum. The exhibit, "Butterflies, Moths and Bugs: A Collection of Michigan Insects," opened Monday.
"I have always been goofing off with bugs," said Elsner, whose exhibit includes a picture of himself at 6 years old with butterfly net in hand. "The most important thing is that my parents did not stop my interest."
In adulthood, his passion has grown cold. Ice cold. Freezing cold. Collecting insects intact requires capturing the specimens alive and, well, freezing them. Problems can arise.
"Some bugs are adapted to surviving in cold conditions and they don't die even after two or three days in the freezer," Elsner said. In those cases, he poisons the bugs with nail polish remover.
Elsner then dries and pins the bugs on a special drying box in preparation for display, each carefully labeled. The freeze-dried bugs are durable and will last for decades if kept protected from other bugs - live ones, that is.
Elsner has some specimens in his collection dating back to the 1920s that were given to him by friends or fellow enthusiasts. His collection includes bugs from 18 different states, and a few exotic specimens from South America.
"I have a little bit of everything," Elsner said. "People bring me all sorts of bugs at my job and I take expeditions occasionally to go looking for them."