Amo Spooner

Role summary

Amo is responsible for the overall management of the following collections: Coleoptera, Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish. She and Rob Douglas also have joint responsibility for Hemiptera and small insect orders. She answers enquiries, deals with loan requests and hosts researchers. In addition, she hosts volunteers and interns to assist with the curatorial elements of her role, and gives tours of the collections. 

Her main interest is in the historic collections she manages, and has been involved in the rehousing project of the historic Coleoptera specimens kept in the Huxley Room since 2010. 

Outside of Life Collections, Amo is responsible for scheduling the displays within the Presenting case. She describes her role as 90% working with dead specimens and 10% working with live ones, as she cares for and maintains the live insect tanks in the gallery and behind the scenes.

CV

Amo completed a First Diploma and a National Diploma in Animal Management at Merrist Wood College, Guildford before studying a BSc (Hons) in Veterinary Health Studies at Sparsholt College, Winchester. During her final year she started volunteering within the Hope Entomological Collections, which led to the role she has now. 

She has specialised in working on historic specimens, which has led to research in the handwriting and pinning methods of 18th- and 19th-century entomologists. Her particular focus is the identification of type specimens, mostly within the Coleoptera and Mantodea collections.

Publications