Ashfall Fossil Beds

05/11/2026

Join us in congratulating Whitney from Trailside Museum on winning the Outstanding Frontline Employee award from Visit Nebraska!

She was selected from dozens of applicants for the huge improvements she has implemented at Trailside, such as modernizing the space, opening an encounter center, and working with local suppliers to bring custom items to the gift shop.

If you haven't visited in a while, take a trip to Trailside Museum to see some of the incredible changes. Now open for the season, Wednesday-Sunday 9:30am - 4:30pm https://museum.unl.edu/trailside/

Happy !

04/21/2026

Mark your calendars: Ashfall Fossil Beds opens next week!

Journey to Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park this summer for a scientific getaway. Observe over 200 complete fossilized skeletons, walk the trails surrounding the park, and visit with paleontologists on site.

The park opens on May 1 for the 2026 summer season. Happy !

04/03/2026

Happy ! The iconic Clash of the Mammoths fossil is back open to the public at our sister site, Trailside Museum.🦣

Whether you're driving through northwest Nebraska or hanging out at Fort Robinson State Park, a trip to Trailside Museum is a great addition to your journey. Learn about Nebraska's rich history through beautiful exhibits and hands-on science exploration for all ages.

Add Trailside Museum to your bucket list this summer!☀️

01/14/2026

Happy belated . Entomology is a-buzz 🐝 as we welcome four new undergraduate interns and two new volunteers to the collection this spring. With over two million specimens, there’s always something to do—whether it's preparing beetles 🪲, curating moths, or working with the public in Morrill Hall's Visible Lab. This is more than a resume line—students can earn experiential learning credit to build professional skills and connect hands-on museum work to future career pathways in entomology, education, and research.

Small efforts today—like labeling a drawer or answering a visitor’s question—can spark something bigger. That’s the butterfly effect 🦋 in action. Did we mention we have a LOT of butterflies?

01/09/2026

This year, our posts will share behind the scenes of our Anthropology Collection! You’ll see how collections are cared for, digitized, and made available for researchers and the public. Follow along to see how we care for our amazing objects, including this recent donation of Japanese items.

01/08/2026

01/07/2026

Happy New Year! Here’s to good luck in 2026 with insects that are often considered lucky, ladybird beetles. Folk customs might suggest counting their spots to see how much luck is coming your way, but really that just depends on the species. Different species can have 2 to 24 spots, but many species have none at all. While there are about six thousand species of ladybirds in the world, we have 65 species in our collections that live in Nebraska. Nine of these are shown here in photos courtesy of Dr. Mathew L. Brust at Chadron State. Why are they considered lucky? Gardeners know it’s lucky to have ladybirds around, but aphids and other garden pests would surely disagree.

12/13/2025

This , take a quick look at research currently being conducted by UNSM's vertebrate paleontology team at Ashfall Fossil Beds. Curator Ash Poust presented on the current research progress at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology annual meeting last month. To learn more about this research, visit this article written by Live Science: https://www.livescience.com/animals/extinct-species/large-bone-crushing-dogs-stalked-rhino-pompeii-after-yellowstone-eruption-12-million-years-ago-ancient-footprints-reveal

11/25/2025

Specimen collection looks very different for every field. For this , with the help of UNSM's Botany Curator, Todd Widhelm, we will walk through the specimen preparation process.🌱

First, a complete specimen is collected from the field and assigned a number along with information regarding where it was collected. Then, once returned safely to the lab, the specimen is laid flat and arranged so all key features are visible. Then the specimen, along with many others, is placed in a press and tightened.🌿

Second, the press is placed in a dryer to rid it of moisture. After a few days, the presses are removed. Labels are then created, which must include the scientific name, locality, coordinates, habitat, and collector information. 🏷️

Third, the specimen is mounted onto herbarium paper. To keep the specimen in place, it is taped and glued down. Once the final label has been updated and glued onto the paper, the specimen can now be entered into the database and filed into the appropriate herbarium case. 🍁

11/12/2025

We are always ones to welcome wee weevils. At only 1/8 inch long, it is one of the millions of insects that are too small for an insect pin. Instead, they can be glued to paper points, as seen here. This furry weevil (see the snout?!) showed up at a UV light trap along the Missouri River this summer.☀️ Not very much is known about this uncommonly seen species, but they have been found in fox squirrel nests in the eastern USA.🐿️ Most weevils feed in plant structures, like seeds, roots, and stems, so a mammal nest seems like a fairly unusual place to be.🌱
Will weevil wonders ... oops, we're out of W words. Anyways, happy !