- Address: La Ceiba, Honduras
- Phone: +504 2442-2874
- Founder: Robert Lehman
- Opening date: 1996
- Number of copies: more than 19000
- Working hours: weekdays from 8:00 to 16:00
La Ceiba is one of the largest cities in Honduras , the administrative center and important port of the country, located on the shores of the Caribbean Sea. Of course, tourists here primarily attract the beaches , but the town itself can also surprise its guests. Perhaps the main pride of La Ceiba is the Butterfly Museum.
general information
The Museum of Tropical Butterflies in La Ceiba is the largest private entomological museum in Honduras, which was founded by Robert Lehman in 1996. The founder spent more than 30 years collecting the collection - this is the passion of his life! Most copies of the collection were obtained personally by Robert Lehmann (or Bob, as they call it here) in Honduras. But many copies were brought from travels or replenished the Lehman collection as a result of an exchange with other collectors from different countries of the world.
In 2014, Robert Lehman sold his collection for more than $ 2 million to the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), and, starting in January 2015, all rights to the collection belong to this organization.
After its opening in 1996 and until 2014, the museum was called the Museum of Butterflies and Insects, and since 2015 (after the sale of the collection), the Butterfly Museum was renamed the Ethnological Museum CURLA.
Instances of the collection of the Museum of Butterflies
The collection of the Butterfly Museum in La Ceiba in Honduras consists of 19,300 species of butterflies and insects, including:
- 7.9 thousand pcs. - day and night butterflies of Honduras;
- 6,2 thousand pcs. - other insects of Honduras;
- 3,4 thousand pcs. - day and night butterflies of other countries;
- 1.8 thousand pcs. - Various insects from other countries of the world.
The greatest value in the collection is made by the following specimens :
- The Emperor of Africa is the largest scorpion in the world;
- Thysania agrippina - the largest butterfly of Honduras;
- Attacus atlas - the largest butterfly in the world is from the Philippines;
- Morpho Cypris - the most beautiful butterfly with a blue color;
- Hercules is a beetle possessing powerful claws;
- Phyllium Giganteum is an insect in leaf form;
- Acrocinus longimanus is the longest insect in the world.
Where is the Museum of Butterflies?
The new Butterfly Museum is located at the address of the Regional University Center on the Atlantic Coast. You can get there by car or bus on the La Ceiba - Tela road.
When to visit?
The Butterfly Museum in La Ceiba is open on weekdays from 8.00 to 16.00 hours. The entrance to the museum is paid, the cost of the visit will depend on the time of visit and the number of people (for group visits discounts are provided). In the Museum of Butterflies you can make beautiful photos and listen to experts who will tell in detail about the representatives of the collection, their habitat and the history of getting into the museum.