The message from the jungles of New Guinea presented a dilemma that an entomologist could love: Send more pins. Villagers hired to collect and preserve bugs for the campus Bohart Museum of Entomology had pinned 100,000 specimens in just a month- about 2 1/2 times than expected and far more than the 60,000 the museum normally acquires in an entire year. At this rate, museum scientists calculate that the villagers could send them as many as 2 million specimens by the time they finish their two-year job. That would increase the Bohart collection, already the eighth largest in North America with 6.5 million specimens, by nearly a third. In exchange, people in the tiny village of Tekadu will improve their quality of life and develop their economy in a way that conservationists hope will save ancient forests. The challenge for the Bohart Museum will be finding space for all the bugs and enough scientists to study them. Entomology professor Lynn Kimsey said there is little risk of decimating the region's insect populations by collecting. In fact, she said one of the museum's roles is preserving at least the DNA of species that are declining due to habitat lost to development. With some species, such as the walking sticks, there are no experts to study them, she said. "By the time there is someone, some of these may be extinct." In fact, the Bohart Museum's expedition to New Guinea was linked with efforts to save the insects' habitat and help ensure their survival. The Bohart 's new collection-which ranges from the tiniest wasps to foot-long walking sticks-is the result of an alliance among the campus entomology department, a well-connected alumnus, a wealthy donor, and international sustainable-development and conservation groups. An entomologist's dream come true "I always wanted to go to New Guinea, but I never thought I'd get to," said Steve Heydon, senior scientist and collection manager for the Bohart. Last fall he got a call from a former entomology student who wanted to make a career of bug collecting and knew a wealthy patron willing to make a tax-deductible donation to help make his dream come true. Terry Sears, who earned a bachelor's degree from UC Davis in 1971 and now lives in Southern California, helped the donor establish the Sylvard Foundation that financed the expedition. In November, Heydon, Sears and Nathan Sciff, an entomologist for the U.S. Forest Service in Mississippi, flew to Port Moresby in southern New Guinea. There they worked with the Foundation for People and Community Development and its sister organization, Conservation International, to set up their expedition. Two and a half weeks later, they landed at Tekadu's tiny airstrip in a plane loaded with butterfly nets, insect traps, portable electrical generators and other supplies. They were only the second team of scientists, after the Los Angeles County Museum, to use a research station built there by the sustainable-development foundation. In Tekadu, about 150 people live in thatched huts without electricity or running water along the Lakekamu River. The villagers grow their own fruits and vegetables and raise betel, or areca nut, which is chewed by people throughout Asia and the Pacific region. Old-growth forests near Tekadu are among the last unlogged stands in the region, according to Heydon. Conservation groups hope that developing scientific research and eco-tourism will create an incentive for landowners to preserve the forests. Sears was also working to help local farmers take their betel nuts directly to market themselves to increase their profits and raise money for the village school. Heydon and the other scientists taught a crew of villagers to collect, preserve and identify bugs. "They don't make much money there. To hire a person for a day is like two or three dollars, plus food. "We had at least a dozen people working for us for each of the two weeks we were there. Then, of course, they brought along their wives and their kids. So we ended up having quite a crowd down there." Scientists learn from their new students The locals also taught them a new trick or two about bug collecting. Among the insects that villagers brought Heydon's team were some brilliant green longhorn beetles. "We couldn't' figure out how they were getting so many." The scientists followed the villagers and discovered they were setting out mango halves to attract the beetles. "They knew exactly what to do." The locals also ate the beetle's larvae, which Heydon sampled. "They taste like corn-like very good corn, actually." Similarly, the villagers knew where to look for giant walking sticks. "They just happened to bring one back to camp and we went nuts about it. They said, 'OK, we'll get you more.'" About a dozen of the best bug collectors were hired to continue the work over the next two years."There's been so much interest in a neighboring village that we want to get a couple of other villages involved, Heydon said. The region, located near the equator, is rich with diverse insect life. For example, there are about 100 species of sphinx moths in North America; the New Guinea collectors gathered 37 species of sphinx moths in just two weeks. Heydon said there may be many species in the collection previously unknown to science, particularly among the smaller insects. The museum will send a share of the specimens back to New Guinea to build its collection, as well as disburse specimens to other museums in the United States. The Bohart, located on the first floor of the Academic Surge Building, plans to hold an open house this spring to exhibit some of the new collection.