Kaspar Spider Collection donated to UWGB
UW-Green Bay’s Cofrin Center for Biodiversity announces the donation of a major spider collection to the Richter Museum of Natural History in Mary Ann Cofrin Hall. Prof. John “Jack” Kaspar, Ph.D. an arachnologist and biology professor at UW-Oshkosh for more than 30 years, amassed a collection of 10,000 spider specimens during his career, mainly from Wisconsin and the Midwest, but also from Mexico, Canada, Europe, Africa, South America, and East Asia. Kaspar donated specimens to The Richter Museum from 2014 until his death in December of 2015, at age 88. His wife, Cathy, has continued the donation, adding more specimens, journal articles, books, reports, and other notes. Kaspar chose the Richter Museum for the donation because of a longtime friendship with Richter Museum Curator, Tom Erdman, and the expertise of arachnologist Prof. Michael Draney (Natural and Applied Sciences), who will be working with the collection. Kaspar’s generous donation, the largest collection of spiders in the state of Wisconsin, is an important legacy that will allow UWGB to better understand the importance of these animals to the ecology and biodiversity of our region.