The NTU Insectarium, one of the twelve members of the NTU Museums Group, is a treasure house that exhibits an abundance of exciting jewels and precious gems of nature.

Sitting at the foot of Toad Mountain just a ten-minute stroll from the Main Campus, this quaint Japanese-era building is among the five most historic insect museums in Taiwan. The Insectarium was constructed at the request of the eminent entomologist Tokuichi Shiraki in 1936 when NTU was still Taihoku Imperial University. A pioneer of entomology in Taiwan, Shiraki was responsible for giving Taiwan's national butterfly, the Agehana maraho, also known as the broad-tailed swallowtail butterfly, its scientific name.

Now, this charming old treasure chest contains a dazzling collection comprising more than 330,000 individual insect specimens, among them many old and rare specimens.

While many of the specimens were gathered during the Japanese colonial era and the early years of the Chinese Nationalist period, the oldest specimens in the Insectarium date to as far back as the early 18th century The collection was greatly augmented during the 1980s after the National Science Council (now the Ministry of Science and Technology) encouraged the Department of Entomology to carry out an aggressive survey of the nation's insects.

This massive archive of bugs serves as an invaluable educational and research resource for the department. Moreover, the collection is often used for educational purposes in providing special exhibitions and entomology camps for schoolchildren, enabling members of the public to learn more about Taiwan's rich insect ecology.

The Insectarium's collection is divided into the Specimens Collection Area, the Special Exhibition Area, and the Permanent Exhibition Area. Access to the Specimens Collection Area, which contains the museum's most valued items, is restricted to students and research personnel upon application for entrance.

However, the Special Exhibition Area and the Permanent Exhibition Area are open to the general public. On the weekends they regularly draw many parents and children, as well as teachers and students, all fascinated by the beauty and diversity of bug life, to hunt for the hidden treasures of the island.