Insect Collecting Information

Techniques / Suppliers / Standards / EntoBlitz / Recommended Equip / Permits / Cameras / Bats / Cars / R.O.W.

Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn

Insect Collecting Techniques

Insect Collecting Techniques - mostly shot in southmost Texas

How to assemble a Flight Intercept Trap (FIT) - photos
How to clear a FIT trap of beetles and other insects - video

The Famous ASCII Pit Fall Trap, Pooter and Black Light setup - Mike Quinn
Collecting and Preserving Insects - Texas A&M
Label data standards for terrestrial arthropods - A brief prepared by the Biological Survey of Canada - 2001
Moth Collecting and Curation Techniques - Bruce Walsh
Field-pinning, Storing, Degreasing and Relaxing Moths - Tony Thomas
Improving Your Display Collection - A Compliment to 4-H Entomology Projects, University of Kentucky
How to Collect Insects - R.M. Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC, Davis
Insect Collecting Methods - Joe MacGown, University of Mississippi

Insect Collecting Equipment Suppliers

Much entomological equipment and supplies can be built from everyday items around one's home. Other equipment can be purchased off the shelf or modified from items bought at local hardware or electrical stores. Some equipment, such as insect pins is generally only available from specialty retailers.

Entomological Equipment - Forestry Suppliers

Standards for Maintaining Collections

COLLECTION PROFILING STANDARDS - PDF

Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

The following standards apply to all methods of specimen preservation: pinned specimens, specimens in alcohol, envelopes or on slides and all methods of storage: drawers, jars and jar racks, vial racks, slide boxes, envelope boxes and misc. containers for bulk storage.

EntoBlitzes

EntoBlitz Texas - Annual spring insect collecting event organized by Texas A&M, Dept. of Entomology.
BioBlitz! Oklahoma - a rapid inventory of biological diversity hosted by the Oklahoma Biological Survey

Past Blitzes

BioQuip carries just about anything an entomologist might want.
BioQuip went out of business in 2022

Below are some of the basic entomological supplies. These are direct (PDF) links to BioQuip's catalog pages.

Collecting Equipment	Processing and Storing Supplies

AC/DC Black Lights Mercury Vapor Equipment Hands-free Head Lamps Butterfly Bait Stations Lindgren Funnel Traps Beat Sheets Litter Reducer for concentrating Berlese Funnel samples Malaise Traps Sweep (Professional and Student Grade) Insect Nets Collecting Jars and Ethyl Acetate Bucket Light Traps	Pigma Pens - Permanent ink Label Paper - Archival Point Punches - For mounting tiny insects Insect Pins and Blocks - Size 2 is optimal Forceps - Featherweight variety are recommended (4750) Insect Storage Boxes - Foam bottomed Cornell Drawers or Drawer kits Cornell Unit Trays - Size A, B, C, and D are recommended Glass Vials and Caps - For soft insects/spiders Hand Lenses - A variety of inexpensive models Naphthalene - Moth Balls

Abbreviations for Insect Collections of the World

Texas Parks & Wildlife - Scientific Collecting Permits

Photographic Equipment Information for those who like to collect with cameras

Bats are the biggest collectors of insects in Texas

Study finds fewer bats, big impact

Sunday, July 8, 2007

By DAVID McLEMORE / The Dallas Morning News
dmclemore@dallasnews.com

UVALDE, Texas – Just as the sun collapses into a ball of fading color in the western sky, bats stream out of Frio Cave in two twisting columns with a sound like running water.

Nightly, this colony of freetail bats leaves the cave – an expansive geological formation carved out of a limestone hill on a private ranch about 25 miles north of Uvalde – in search of a late-night snack.

At the same time, millions of bats from 11 other major caves scattered across the eight-county South Texas agricultural area known as the Winter Garden fill the sky in such numbers that they appear as storm clouds on weather radar.

Researchers have long known that bats in Texas caves dine on insect pests. But just how many bats there are and the value of their feeding had proved elusive until a five-year, $2.4 million National Science Foundation study by scientists from Boston University, the University of Tennessee, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Texas Parks and Wildlife.

From sundown to sunup, the freetail bats consume a staggering 400 metric tons of insects a year in the Winter Garden, or 2 million pounds each night. They range over a radius of 75 miles and feed from ground level to 10,000 feet.

full text: http://tinyurl.com/38bflx

Car Mortality Data from Illinois

McKenna D.D., McKenna K.M., Malcolm S.B., & M.R. Berenbaum. 2001. Implications of roadway mortality for populations of Lepidoptera in east-central Illinois. Journal of the Lepidopterist's Society 55(2): 63-68.

ABSTRACT. We conducted this study to investigate the magnitude of roadway mortality of Lepidoptera in central Illinois. <snip> Based on these data, the number of Lepidoptera killed along roadways for the entire state of Illinois during one week was estimated at more than 20,000,000 individuals. The number of monarch butterflies killed may have exceeded 500,000 individuals.

July 9, 2007

New Law Prohibits All Hunting of Wildlife From Roads

AUSTIN, Texas — With the passage of House Bill 12 by the 80th Texas Legislature, it is now unlawful to hunt any wild bird or animal on a public road or the right-of-way of a public road.

Although the new law could be construed to apply to the collection of invertebrates, [Texas Parks & Wildlife] will not enforce the provision as it relates to invertebrates at this time.

full text: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20070709a