Insects Limited intern helps with entomology laboratory research

Insects Limited’s lab team this summer consisted of, from left, Entomology Intern Samantha Kiever, Research Associate Ethan Estabrook, President Pat Kelley and Director of Research James Feston. (PHOTO: INSECTS LIMITED)

Samantha Kiever, an entomology major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, spent the summer working with the Insects Limited staff.

She shared her skills with the company while gaining experience in an entomology lab and working with three board-certified entomologists.

One of Keiver’s tasks was determining the sex of live, adult clothes moths without harming them. The sexed-moths are used in pheromone and odor preference studies for the quality control and research purpose. She proved herself to be the quickest and most accurate person to perform this task, according to a “Fumigants & Pheromones” article.

Insect Limited President Pat Kelley said Keiver came highly recommended from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Entomology Professor Dt. Louise Lynch-O’Brien, who said Kiever was a star student in her class.

“Samantha’s involvement with the research labs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as well as her experience as being a teaching assistant in an insect biology course at UNL has given her the tools to be a great entomological resource for us here,” Kelley said. “[She] brings enthusiasm and skill to every project that she has been assigned to. She is a great asset.”

Besides her work with Insects Limited, Kiever is set to graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in December 2022. She enjoys writing, painting, cooking, fishing and singing.

Kiever lives in Brownsburg, Ind., with her husband, Glenn, a jumping spider named Gizmo, a number of pet cockroaches, some earwigs and a dog.

After school, Kiever hopes to one day start a business breeding ethically sourced arthropod pets. Her greatest aspiration is to successfully get blue death feigning beetles (Asbolus verrucosus) to reproduce in captivity.