[1] The Bibikely Biodiversity Institute is an NGO founded and presently directed by Dr. Brian Fisher, preeminent field biologist, and the curator and chairman of the entomology department of the California Academy of Sciences.

The center was conceived in 2001 as a means to provide a safe and permanent home for the Bibikely Biodiversity Institute to continue its work of cataloging and understanding the rich biological endowment that is Madagascar's biodiversity.

The center will enable the Bibikely Biodiversity Institute to expand its work in understanding the ecosystems of Madagascar, particularly as they relate to arthropods.

[2] The center will provide the facilities required to train a larger number of students, particularly those from Madagascar itself, in the science and practice of systematics, ecology, conservation and entomology.

The collection makes possible a large part of the needed research on arthropods of Madagascar.