A & E

As fascinating as the many displays in Carnegie Museum of Natural History are, some say the most interesting goings on at the museum are behind the scenes. That's where the museum's Section of Invertebrate Zoology is busily working on systematic entomology. That is, the study and classification of the vastly diverse insect world.

With roughly 11 million specimens of invertebrates in the Carnegie's collection, there's plenty for the staff of 12 researchers, collection managers and preparators to work on. But even so, Section head Dr. John Rawlins, who studies Lepidoptera (an order of insect that includes moths and butterflies), and Dr. Chen Young, who primarily studies crane flies, can't help but travel to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which is home to many unclassified species of insects that can still be found in both places.

But when they come back, with specimens in tow, it's a sure bet they will ask Jane Hyland for help. Hyland, a scientific preparator and illustrator, is the person who prepares the tiny bug specimens on slides, micro-dissecting the smallest parts of bugs that can't possibly be seen by the human eye. Not only that, she photographs and illustrates these parts, a painstaking and highly detailed job that takes an incredible amount of time and consideration.

"They're dissected, looked at under a microscope and illustrated because that's really the only way you can differentiate one specimens from the other," Hyland says of the bugs she works on. "You could probably do it with a new technology known as SEM, a scanning electron microscope, but for clarity you illustrate it, because you can depict character (traits) and let others go by the wayside if they are not that important."

Hyland says that the illustrations become particularly important when it comes time to put the specimen all back together, especially if it has been "hashed up" from a dissection. "If you did that with photography you'd just have a mess, and no one would be able to see what it is," she says.

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Hyland worked as a freelance painter and dancer in London for 13 years before coming to the United States in 1991 to attend Carlow University where she earned a Bachelor of Art degree. In 1997, she was hired to provide entomological specimen preparation, scientific illustration and curatorial support involving insects, especially moths and butterflies.

Her most recent artwork, along with a few specimens from the museum's extensive collection, are on display currently in the R.P. Simmons Family Gallery Foyer on the third floor of the museum.

Hyland's entomological expertise and artistry are displayed through her 25 pen and ink scientific illustrations, two watercolors, as well as a 30-by-38-inch trompe l'oeil oil painting, a technique that uses realistic images to create a three dimensional appearance.

For the most part the artwork examines the complex and fascinating anatomy of moths, 23 illustrations of male and female genitalia and aedeagus of moths specifically. Four illustrations show wing venations, antenna, palps and legs of the moth as well.

Hyland's precise and scientifically accurate pen and ink drawings illustrate the intricate anatomy of both male and female moths. These beautifully detailed drawings feature even the tiniest aspects of these delicate creatures including antennas, legs and genitalia.

Moths and moth parts are a specialty of Hyland because Rawlins specializes in the study of Lepidoptera, an order of insect that includes moths and butterflies. That also explains why seven illustrations on display show the stages of a caterpillar life cycle, otherwise known as "habitus drawings."

"Delightful Bird Dropping Moth and Swamp Rose Mallow" is one such work. It depicts a very rare caterpillar, Acontia delecta, on a branch of plant for which the scientific name is Hibiscus moscheutos "It's endangered, if not extinct," Hyland says of the caterpillar that was once common on the East coast. Hyland says the plant also is dying out, hence: "The habitat is being lost, therefore you lose the bug."

Also on display are two cases filled with Hyland's tools of her trade. The "Science" case contains scientific publications, spreading blocks, slide mounts, technical pens and insect pins, as well as a jar of Motrin and a paper cup that once held Cappuccino -- an obvious nod to the painstaking attention to detail necessary for the job.

The "Art" case includes an artist's easel, oil paints and brushes and two paint palettes used to paint trompe l'oeil oil paintings, which Hyland likes to create in her spare time.

Her painting "Fly" is a perfect example. Depicting a shelf that holds a shell, a bird scull, a piece of a broken bottle and a box of string, it looks hyper realistic, as if you could reach in and grab any one of those objects. It is a testament to the high level of skill that sets this artist apart, and goes a long way in explaining why she is the perfect person for such highly detailed work.

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