Insect Collection Manuel Ortego

During my Christmas Break in Spain, I got to visit the Insect Collection Manuel Ortego in Madrid. The collection consists of 22.404 insects, collected by Manuel Ortego Forniés (grandfather) between 1940 and 1989, Manuel Ortego Gamboa (father) between 1980 and 1990 and donated to the Madrid City Council by Manuel Ortego Navarro (grandson) in 2018. Mr. Ortego Forniés started collecting insects at the age of 10, and kept collecting insects as a hobby while he painted for a living. His son worked at the Natural Sciences museum and founded the Madrid Entomological Group.

The collection is formed by 186 entomological boxes, and 92% of the insects belong to the order coleoptera, 8% to lepidoptera and one only individual belongs to the order odonata. There is a total of 1218 genera, 3750 species, 66 coleoptera and 28 lepidoptera families.


It is stablished at the Casa de Campo's Lake, right next to the Interpretation and Education Centre. The entomological room where the collection is located possesses an entomological laboratory.



Between 2018 and 2019, the collection staff have been working on a data base to register all the information provided on the tags associated to the different insects (date and place of capture, common and scientific name of the species, identification number...)


Other projects are currently being carried out, such as the breeding and releasing of Graellsia isabellae, an endangered butterfly species. They also perform activities involved in the control and management of Pine processionary Thaumetopoea pityocampa, a species which happens to be highly damaging for other animal and plant organisms.

Graellsia isabellae

The visit was very instructive and it was amazing getting to see such a big entomological collection. I am aware not everyone appreciates insects, but I personally find them very interesting and even beautiful. Also, the projects the staff are involved in seem very important and I hope they perform them succesfully.