Got up bright and early on this Monday, June 19. Thankfully, Chris doesn’t like to lecture for more than an hour. I don’t really like listening to lectures for more than an hour, so that works out. He talked about basic insect anatomy and metamorphosis. Interesting fact: Mayflies are the only insects that go through the subimago stage of metamorphosis. The adults also have no mouths or digestive tracts because they are focused on reproduction only. I thought it was interesting anyway.
Afterwards, Chris talked about all of the collecting techniques. You have the old fashioned net, but then you have all these nifty other things used to collect insects. There’s the Berlaise funnel, used to collect insects in dirt and debris. There’s the light traps and the flying trap and the pitfall. I never really thought about all of the different ways to go bug collecting. After he talked about collection methods, we all grabbed a net and hunted for bugs on Gibraltar. I think I’m off to a fair start. I got a damselfly (not a dragonfly, as I learned), a bee, a wasp, a large ant, and other miscellaneous insects.
In the afternoon, we rode the Gibraltar III to South Bass to do some collecting. We split up into two groups and one went collecting in Terwilliger’s Pond and the other went to the woodlot. I went with the woodlot group and we planted pitfalls and caught bugs. I didn’t get anything too unusual. Then we went to Terwilliger’s Pond. Man I wish I took my shoes and socks off. I did not expect it too be that muddy. My foot got stuck once. It took a while to get it out. We had to cut our collection short because there was lightening. We waited until the Gib III could leave. In the meantime, we hosed off. My socks will never be white again.
In the evening, Chris gave us a handout on all the insect orders. There’s 32 different orders and we want 15 of them. I guess that doesn’t seem so hard. But then you have to consider the ones that are not found in Ohio. Ack. After we went over the handout, Chris went over how to pin and/or preserve your insects. Typically you want to pin them in the upper right region. I don’t know why though. We spent the rest of the evening pinning our insects. It might sound boring, but I found pinning quite relaxing. Adrea said that I’m a good pinner. I wonder if I can get a job pinning insects. Didn’t get done until 10 or so. I wonder if every night is going to be like this.
Afterwards, Chris talked about all of the collecting techniques. You have the old fashioned net, but then you have all these nifty other things used to collect insects. There’s the Berlaise funnel, used to collect insects in dirt and debris. There’s the light traps and the flying trap and the pitfall. I never really thought about all of the different ways to go bug collecting. After he talked about collection methods, we all grabbed a net and hunted for bugs on Gibraltar. I think I’m off to a fair start. I got a damselfly (not a dragonfly, as I learned), a bee, a wasp, a large ant, and other miscellaneous insects.
In the afternoon, we rode the Gibraltar III to South Bass to do some collecting. We split up into two groups and one went collecting in Terwilliger’s Pond and the other went to the woodlot. I went with the woodlot group and we planted pitfalls and caught bugs. I didn’t get anything too unusual. Then we went to Terwilliger’s Pond. Man I wish I took my shoes and socks off. I did not expect it too be that muddy. My foot got stuck once. It took a while to get it out. We had to cut our collection short because there was lightening. We waited until the Gib III could leave. In the meantime, we hosed off. My socks will never be white again.
In the evening, Chris gave us a handout on all the insect orders. There’s 32 different orders and we want 15 of them. I guess that doesn’t seem so hard. But then you have to consider the ones that are not found in Ohio. Ack. After we went over the handout, Chris went over how to pin and/or preserve your insects. Typically you want to pin them in the upper right region. I don’t know why though. We spent the rest of the evening pinning our insects. It might sound boring, but I found pinning quite relaxing. Adrea said that I’m a good pinner. I wonder if I can get a job pinning insects. Didn’t get done until 10 or so. I wonder if every night is going to be like this.
posted by Jennifer | 5:41 PM
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