This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2018) |
Insect collecting refers to the collection of insects and other arthropods for scientific study or as a hobby. Most insects are small and the majority cannot be identified without the examination of minute morphological characters, so entomologists often make and maintain insect collections. Very large collections are conserved in natural history museums or universities where they are maintained and studied by specialists. Many college courses require students to form small collections. There are also amateur entomologists and collectors who keep collections.
Historically, insect collecting has been widespread and was in the Victorian age a very popular educational hobby. Insect collecting has left traces in European cultural history, literature and songs (e.g., Georges Brassens's La chasse aux papillons (The Hunt for Butterflies)). The practice is particularly common among Japanese youths.[ citation needed ]
Insects may be passively caught using traps such as funnels, pitfall traps, bottle traps, malaise traps, or flight interception traps, some of which are baited with small bits of sweet foods (such as honey). Entomologists collecting nocturnal insects (especially moths) during faunistic survey studies might utilize ultraviolet light traps such as the Robinson trap. Aspirators, sometimes called "pooters", suck up insects too small or delicate to handle with fingers. [1]
Active capture of insects often involves using nets. Aerial insect nets are used to collect flying insects. The bag of a butterfly net is generally constructed from a lightweight mesh to minimize damage to delicate butterfly wings. Sweep nets are more rugged, and used to collect insects from grass and brush. A sweep net is swept back and forth through vegetation quickly turning the opening from side to side and following a shallow figure eight pattern. The collector walks forward while sweeping, and the net is moved through plants and grasses with force. Sweeping continues for some distance and then the net is flipped over, with the bag hanging over the rim, trapping the insects until they can be removed. Other types of nets used for collecting insects include beating nets and aquatic nets. [2] Leaf litter sieves are used by coleopterists and to collect larvae.
Once collected, a insects must be killed before they damage themselves trying to escape. Killing jars are used on hard-bodied insects. Soft-bodied insects, such as those in the larval stage, are generally fixed in a vial containing an ethanol and water solution. [3]
There are several different preservation methods that are used; some of which include: dried preservation (pinning), liquid preservation, or slide mounts. Another (now mostly historical) approach is caterpillar inflation, where the innards were removed and the skin dried. [4] Pinning is by far the most common form of insect preservation.
It is better to pin an insect that has died recently enough that it has not dried yet, because it allows the thoracic muscles to adhere to the pin. Previously dried specimens must have glue applied to the pin location to avoid spinning. The large majority of the time insects are pinned vertically through their mesothorax and slightly off-center to the right of the mid-line. [5] The pin should sit with 1/4 of the pin above the insect as to allow enough room for labels to be readable underneath.
When pinning insects with wings, it is important to display them properly: Lepidoptera wings should always be spread. When drying insects with wings such as butterflies, setting paper is used to position the wings.
Orthopteroids often have their left wings spread. In scientific collections, the insect's wings, legs, and antenna are tucked underneath it to conserve space.
When pin-mounting small insects the insect is glued to a piece of non acidic, triangle paper. This is called pointing. When drying an insect the relaxed insect is spread out accordingly using pins on a foam block where it can dry and retain its positioning.
When labeling insects the labels are presented in this order top down: Locality, additional locality/voucher label/accession numbers, insect identification. [6]
Insect pins are used by entomologists for mounting collected insects. [7] They can also be used in dressmaking for very fine silk or antique fabrics. [8]
As standard, they are 38 millimetres (1.5 in) long and come in sizes from 000 (the smallest diameter), through 00, 0, and 1, to 8 (the largest diameter). [7] [9] [10] The most generally useful size in entomology is size 2, which is 0.46 millimetres (0.018 in) in diameter, with sizes 1 and 3 being the next most useful. [7] [9]
They were once commonly made from brass or silver, but these would corrode from contact with insect bodies and are no longer commonly used. [7] Instead they are nickel-plated brass, yielding "white" or "black" enamelling, or even made from stainless steel. [9] Similarly, the smallest sizes from 000 to 1 used to be impractical for mounting until plastic and polyethylene became commonly used for pinning bases. [7]
There are also micropins, which are 10–15 millimetres (0.39–0.59 in) long. [9] minutens are headless micropins that are generally only made of stainless steel, used for double-mounting, where the insect is mounted on the minuten, which is pinned to a small block of soft material, which is in turn mounted on a standard, larger, insect pin. [11] [12]
As an exception to this standard, there also are pins of size 7, extra-long and very strong pins for very large beetles; they are 52mm long and thicker than size 6 pins.
Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri's childhood hobby of insect collecting is the inspiration behind the popular video game series. [15]
A beetle collection becomes a source of fascination for a mentally disturbed woman in Chapter XI of MacKinlay Kantor's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Andersonville (1955).
In biology, the imago is the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis, its process of growth and development; it is also called the imaginal stage, the stage in which the insect attains maturity. It follows the final ecdysis of the immature instars.
The Gerridae are a family of insects in the order Hemiptera, commonly known as water striders, water skeeters, water scooters, water bugs, pond skaters, water skippers, water skimmers or puddle flies. Consistent with the classification of the Gerridae as true bugs, gerrids have mouthparts evolved for piercing and sucking, and distinguish themselves by having the unusual ability to walk on water, making them pleuston (surface-living) animals. They are anatomically built to transfer their weight to be able to run on top of the water's surface. As a result, one could likely find water striders present in any pond, river, or lake. Over 1,700 species of gerrids have been described, 10% of them being marine.
In entomology, an aspirator, also known as a pooter, is a device used in the collection of insects, crustaceans or other small, fragile organisms, usually for scientific purposes.
A Malaise trap is a large, tent-like structure used for trapping, killing, and preserving flying insects, particularly Hymenoptera and Diptera. The trap is made of a material such as PET (polyester) netting and can be various colours. Insects fly into the tent wall and are funneled into a collecting vessel attached to its highest point. It was invented by René Malaise in 1934.
The American cockroach is the largest species of common cockroach, and often considered a pest. In certain regions of the U.S. it is colloquially known as the waterbug, though it is not a true waterbug since it is not aquatic. It is also known as the ship cockroach, kakerlac, and Bombay canary. It is often misidentified as a palmetto bug.
The Mymaridae, commonly known as fairyflies or fairy wasps, are a family of chalcidoid wasps found in temperate and tropical regions throughout the world. The family contains around 100 genera with 1,400 species.
Insect pins are used by entomologists for mounting collected insects. They can also be used in dressmaking for very fine silk or antique fabrics.
Entomological evidence collection is the process of collecting evidence based on insect clues used in criminal investigations. If evidence is not carefully preserved at a crime scene after a death, it may be difficult or impossible for an entomologist to make an accurate identification of specimens, if for example, all morphological characteristics are not preserved.
Lucilia mexicana is a species of blow fly of the family Calliphoridae, one of many species known as a green bottle fly. Its habitat range extends from southwestern North America to Brazil. L. mexicana is typically 6–9 mm in length with metallic blue-green coloring. This species is very similar in appearance to L. coeruleiviridis, the primary difference being that L. mexicana has two or more complete rows of post-ocular setae. L. mexicana has the potential to be forensically important in the stored-products and medicocriminal fields, but more research is needed for the fly to be used as evidence in criminal investigations.
The green-head ant, also known as the green ant or metallic pony ant, is a species of ant that is endemic to Australia. It was described by British entomologist Frederick Smith in 1858 as a member of the genus Rhytidoponera in the subfamily Ectatomminae. These ants measure between 5 and 7 mm. The queens and workers look similar, differing only in size, with the males being the smallest. They are well known for their distinctive metallic appearance, which varies from green to purple or even reddish-violet. Among the most widespread of all insects in Australia, green-head ants are found in almost every Australian state, but are absent in Tasmania. They have also been introduced in New Zealand, where several populations have been established.
A bottle trap is a type of baited arboreal insect trap for collecting either prized or harmful frugivorous beetles, especially flower beetles, leaf chafers and longhorn beetles as well as wasps and other unwanted flying insects.
Palaeovespa is an extinct genus of wasp in the Vespidae subfamily Vespinae. The genus currently contains eight species, five from the Priabonian stage Florissant Formation in Colorado, United States two from the middle Eocene Baltic amber deposits of Europe. and one species from the late Paleocene of France.
A zoological specimen is an animal or part of an animal preserved for scientific use. Various uses are: to verify the identity of a (species), to allow study, increase public knowledge of zoology. Zoological specimens are extremely diverse. Examples are bird and mammal study skins, mounted specimens, skeletal material, casts, pinned insects, dried material, animals preserved in liquid preservatives, and microscope slides. Natural history museums are repositories of zoological specimens
The Department of Entomology is a research department and collection unit of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), located in Washington, D.C. The department houses the U.S. National Insect Collection, one of the largest entomological collections in the world, with over 35 million specimens housed in 132,354 drawers, 33,000 jars or vials, and 23,000 slides in more than 5,200 cabinets. The department also includes research scientists and technical staff from the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Department of Agriculture Systematic Entomology Lab (SEL) and United States Department of Defense Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU).
Agastomyrma is an extinct genus of formicid in the ant subfamily Myrmicinae known from the fossil species Agastomyrma laticeps found in eastern Asia.
Caterpillar inflation is a method of specimen preservation found in insect collecting, used mostly during the 19th and early 20th century.
The conservation and restoration of insect specimens is the process of caring for and preserving insects as a part of a collection. Conservation concerns begin at collection and continue through preparation, storage, examination, documentation, research and treatment when restoration is needed.
Leptoconops kerteszi, common name Bodega black gnat, is a species of biting midges belonging to the family Ceratopogonidae. They feed on multiple species and can be found in places such as the United States, Egypt, and Tunisia.
The Lincoln University Entomology Research Collection is a collection of approximately 500,000 insect, spider, and other arthropod specimens housed in Lincoln University, New Zealand. One of New Zealand's largest insect research collections, it is the only one based in a university.
Leptoconops myersi is a species of coastal biting midge in the genus Leptoconops and family Ceratopogonidae that is found in New Zealand.
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(April 2009) |
Picture guide series for college students. Out of date, but very useful for beginners: