The trek of 4.5 million insects across Kansas University’s campus began Friday.

“It’s not fun while we’re doing it, but it is one of the best things to happen to the collection in 75 years,” said Leonard Krishtalka, director of KU’s Biodiversity Institute.

The insects, which make up KU’s vast entomology collection, are being moved from assorted rooms in Snow Hall to a large space in the former Printing Services building on west campus.

The move will mean about 6,000 square feet more than the current space, for a total of about 16,000 square feet. The new home brings the promise of climate-controlled surroundings in a spacious spot separate from people, where the insects won’t be disturbed or damaged.

But first they must get there.

Kansas University senior Sarah Mendoza, Kansas City, Kan., center, receives a drawer of various insect specimens from senior Erin Carter, Lawrence, as they work Friday morning to package and move more than 4.4 million insects in the university's collection from Snow Hall to a more spacious location at the old Printing Services building on west campus.

“There’s been an enormous amount of preparation,” said Jordan Yochim, assistant director for administration at the institute.

The insect specimens, some as old as 300 years, have been collected from sites around the world. Each is pinned and labeled and encased in a drawer for research.

They are not simply bugs.

“They are research libraries of life,” Krishtalka said.

Each specimen preserves the DNA, anatomy and physiology of one small part of the enormous tree of life.

KU froze the collection for the move, stopping the normal importing and exporting of insects for research purposes.

Staff had to sort through the collection – no small task when it involves millions of specimens – checking to make sure each insect was in the right place.

“You can’t lose anything, because you’ll never find it again,” Yochim said.

A labeled collection of scorpion flies was among the specimens moved out of KU's Snow Hall Friday.

Drawers of the insects were stacked, padded with foam and secured with ties.

Temperature fluctuations can reap havoc, so to cut down on them, the move started early Friday in an attempt to beat the heat.

The first truck took the roadway at about 10 miles per hour, testing to see how that effected the bugs. Vibration is bad for the insects.

“It shakes the pin,” Yochim said. “The pin shakes the specimen. The parts fall off.”

Crews, which included Entomology Collection manager Zachary Falin, expected the move to take about a week. And it will take months before the collection is unfrozen and ready to support research.

But researchers were excited the time had finally come. The collection was placed in Snow in the mid-1980s as a temporary fix.

“A short-term solution in the mid-80s ended up being a 30-year solution now rectified,” Krishtalka said.