# Collecting trips, tips, and pics.



## CustomNature (Aug 4, 2005)

Hey folks.  I was just sitting here thinking that it would be sweet if we could start a thread that showcases our collecting trips, finds, and techniques.  I know I'm not the only one here who goes out, so when I do tomorrow, I'm taking my digital camera and I'll post up some photos when I get back.  I think it would be a good spot for the arachnocommunity to share some ideas and tips with each other. The traps that I use are light traps, pit-fall traps, beat sheets, sweep nets, and sugaring.  If anyone hasn't heard of, or doesnt know about, these techniques then post up a reply and I'd be happy to describe them and how I use them.  Like I said, I'll be posting some pics late tomorrow evening when I get back, but if anyone has some pics of their finds or trips or anything, the feel free to beat me to it.  The idea for this kind of thread will either take off, or go down in burning flames; but hey, right nows the time of year for the best collecting.  Have it fellas!  :clap:


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## CustomNature (Aug 4, 2005)

Alright, I wasnt going to put any up tonight, but here are two pics from earlier today.  First one is an Argiope I found and the second is about an L5 or L6 (Im guessing) Chinese mantis.  Just to get the ball rolling..


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## Dark Raptor (Aug 4, 2005)

I'm generally interested in saproxylic beetles. By Speight definition (1989) they are: "Species of invertebrates that are dependent, during some part of their life cycle, upon the dead or dying wood of moribound or dead trees (standing or fallen), or upon wood-inhabiting fungi, or upon the presence of other saproxylics".

So the best method that I'm using right now are window-flight traps:






The best place to install this equipment are hollows of old, rottening trees. I prefer oak (Quecus spp.). But soon I will start new project on spruce (Picea abies).






It is also possible to add something that will attract insects (in this case beer    and fruit syrup).






...and of corse 'standard' collecting by hand is also good addition to that method.











I'm also using pitfall traps:






...and light traps:






Sifting and checking wood mould is also a good method to collect smaller species and larvae (in that pic I've got some of that stuff in white bucket)






PS. I won't show You how I collect carrion and coprophagic beetles   

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting


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## Malkavian (Aug 4, 2005)

Kinda curious now that yo usaid you wont show that...


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## cacoseraph (Aug 4, 2005)

Malkavian said:
			
		

> Kinda curious now that yo usaid you wont show that...


heh, those are corpse and poop eaters....


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## cacoseraph (Aug 4, 2005)

Dark Raptor said:
			
		

> ...and of corse 'standard' collecting by hand is also good addition to that method.


dude that pic with your arm in the stump up to the elbow is freaky!

i regularily uncover rattlesnakes and southern CA is rediculously thick with widows.


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## Dark Raptor (Aug 4, 2005)

cacoseraph said:
			
		

> dude that pic with your arm in the stump up to the elbow is freaky!
> 
> i regularily uncover rattlesnakes and southern CA is rediculously thick with widows.


I'm lucky. In Poland we have only Vipera berus and only few venomous spiders (but less than Lathrodectus).
But you are right. There was _Formica rufa_ ant nest in that stump. I was biten badly by hundreds of angry workers. Sometimes that work is really painfull


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## cacoseraph (Aug 4, 2005)

Dark Raptor said:
			
		

> I'm lucky. In Poland we have only Vipera berus and only few venomous spiders (but less than Lathrodectus).
> But you are right. There was _Formica rufa_ ant nest in that stump. I was biten badly by hundreds of angry workers. Sometimes that work is really painfull


ouch!
i have to imagine it is some what worrying to be getting bit/stung and not know *what* is doing it


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## CustomNature (Aug 4, 2005)

Wow man.  That pic of you basically inside that tree is awesome.  I live in the northeast US and I have never even seen trees that large here! lol   I also never heard of or have seen those window flying traps... which I'm curious about.  I take it the beetles hit the window pieces and fall down into the funnel??  And the blue tarp thing ontop is basically an umbrella??  I'm leaving to go collecting in about and hour so I'll post my pics and stuff here when I get home.


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## galeogirl (Aug 4, 2005)

When I had a yard, I used to put out the white sheet under the porch light, then go check for cool moths and such.  Always a fun evening.

I've been wanting to go out collecting and photographing, but none of my friends are really interested in going.  Hoping to collect some Carabus nemoralis next spring and try my hand at keeping them.


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## Dark Raptor (Aug 4, 2005)

HoldThePickle said:
			
		

> Wow man.  That pic of you basically inside that tree is awesome.  I live in the northeast US and I have never even seen trees that large here! lol   I also never heard of or have seen those window flying traps... which I'm curious about.  I take it the beetles hit the window pieces and fall down into the funnel??  And the blue tarp thing ontop is basically an umbrella??  I'm leaving to go collecting in about and hour so I'll post my pics and stuff here when I get home.


I've seen much larger oaks than this in that pic 

Yes. You guess how the whole trap works  I can only add that there is ethylene glycol in the bottle. All betles that fall into glycol quickly drown in this preservative fluid and can stay there for almost month.
I'm trying now to build similar trap, but wihich will allow me to catch living specimens.


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## AR-Tarantula (Aug 4, 2005)

*Saproxylics in the U.S.*

Dark Raptor,

Glad you brought up the topic of saproxylic insects.  Since 1999, I have been working on saproxylic beetles in bottomland hardwood ecosystems of the southern U.S.  I have become very familiar with the research that has come out of Europe on this topic.  I have never used those trunk-window traps but am interested in how effective they are in trapping cerambycids.  I am now working on a project in Arkansas regarding the creation of foraging habitat for ivory-billed woodpeckers.  Fifty percent of the ivory-billed diets is thought to consist of cerambycids and other dying tree/dead wood associated beetles.  

I have used malaise traps successfully in collecting cerambycids but have never tried any of the European-style window traps.  Just curious as to what you have encountered.


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## CustomNature (Aug 4, 2005)

Yeah, i'm really interested in this window trap thing as well.  Also, I'm working on building an underwater light trap.  I know some people have made them before, but I'll keep this thread posted on my progress.  Hopefully it will be a better way to catch diving beetles and toe-bitters and insects of the sort.


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## Dark Raptor (Aug 4, 2005)

Ok. With my language skills it will be difficult, but I will try to write something more about this topic.

I'm capturing saproxylic beetles with use of windows traps for 4 years. Cerambycid beetles are very small group in collected material. I'm just preparing for master's thesis exam so I've just analyzed precisely only part of it (beetles captured in 2002).
Family Cerambycidae presents only 5% of all beetles (so I think this method isn't too good for this family).

This is full list of species colected that year (2002):
Alosterna tabacicolor
Exocentrus adspersus
Leiopus nebulosus
Leptura quadrifasciata
Mesosa curculionoides
Phymatodes testaceus
Plagionotus detritus
Prionus coriarius
Rhagium mordax
Ropalopus macropus
Stenocorus meridianus
Stenostola ferrea
Strangalia attenuata
Tetrops praeustus
Xylotrechus antilope

Most abudant familes were (with % of all collected specimens):
Anobiidae	21,03851518
Throscidae	8,861710117
Dermestidae	7,842506169
Mycetophagidae	7,467009977
Elateridae	6,372706791
Nitidulidae	6,297607553
Aderidae	5,224761292
Ptinidae	3,980259629
Leiodidae	3,315094947
Catopidae	3,293638022
Alleculidae	3,100525695
Histeridae	2,821585667
Tenebrionidae	2,660658728
Scolytidae	2,585559489
Scraptiidae	2,564102564
Cerylidae	1,705825555
Cisidae	         1,523441691
Melandryidae	1,426885527
Eucnemidae	1,276687051
Lymexylonidae	1,040660873
Scarabaeidae	1,008475485
Trogidae	0,836820084
Cerambycidae	0,557880056
Curculionidae	0,49350928
Monotomidae	0,472052355
Malachiidae	0,386224654
Cleridae	0,311125416
Corylophidae	0,278940028
Melyridae	0,236026177
Colydiidae	0,214569252
Erotylidae	0,171655402
Mordellidae	0,118013089
Silvanidae	0,085827701
Sphindidae	0,053642313
Endomychidae	0,04291385
Lucanidae	0,04291385
Oedemeridae	0,04291385
Salpingidae	0,04291385
Buprestidae	0,032185388
Laemophloeidae	0,032185388
Scirtidae	0,032185388
Anthribidae	0,021456925
Clambidae	0,021456925
Peltidae	0,021456925
Pyrochroidae	0,021456925
Carabidae	0,010728463
Lycidae	         0,010728463

Staphylinidae, Scaphidiidae and Pselaphidae are excluded. Only in 2002 I've captured 9321 specimens belonging to 240 species and to 47 families. If I add material from other years I've got (to that moment) more than 15.000 specimens, 320 species and more than 55 families.

Of corse I'm only talking about species that were classified as saproxylic. I've captured also a lot of other beetles like Chrysomelidae, Cantharidae ect.


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## NiGHTS (Aug 4, 2005)

Anyone have any good live trapping methods for millipedes?  So far, I've been hand collecting by turning over rocks and logs, and checking around the base of trees.  ...but I know there's got to be an easier method.


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## Wade (Aug 4, 2005)

An ordinary minnow trap makes a good aquatic insect trap, especially for large diving beetles, but it should be positioned in such a way that the beetles don't drown. Arranging it so the cones are under water but the top is above is ideal. Bait shoul be suspended in the middle.

I've also made mini aquatic traps by cutting the top off of a plastic water or soda bottle and then putting them back on with the mouth inside (secured with a large rubber band) so it makes a funnel. 

Wade


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## AR-Tarantula (Aug 4, 2005)

Thanks for the info.  Another question.  Do you get many Lucanidae with your light traps?


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## Dark Raptor (Aug 4, 2005)

AR-Tarantula said:
			
		

> Thanks for the info.  Another question.  Do you get many Lucanidae with your light traps?


I've collected only Dorcus parallelipipedus, Platycerus caraboides and Sinodendron cylindricum. Small number, but we've got only 7 species of Lucanid beetles in Poland.
My friend captured Lucanus cervus on light-trap.


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## Dark Raptor (Aug 4, 2005)

Ok. If this thread is also about collecting trips... these pics were taken during my fieldworks in Tatra Mts. I took part in experiment in which we were examining different substances produced by rottening wood and beetles that were attracted by them (mostly bark beetles). We collected also large amounts of specialised predators belonging to Cleridae, Tenebrionidae, Cerylidae and Histeridae families.












This ugly one... it's me 






Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting


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## cacoseraph (Aug 4, 2005)

*Potato trap*



			
				NiGHTS said:
			
		

> Anyone have any good live trapping methods for millipedes?  So far, I've been hand collecting by turning over rocks and logs, and checking around the base of trees.  ...but I know there's got to be an easier method.


you could try a potato trap. basically boil a potato, then carefully make a hole and scoop a largish chamber out of the potato.

bury that puppy and retrieve it 24-96 hours later. later = more bugs, but bigger chance of rotting apart

you'll get all kinds of random stuff in there, too, though


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## AR-Tarantula (Aug 4, 2005)

Looks like a really nice place to work.  Here is one of my sites in Arkansas for juxtaposition.  Benson Creek Natural Area (site of ivory-bill observation in 2004).


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## AR-Tarantula (Aug 4, 2005)

Malaise trap in a slash woodland in the Grand Prairie of eastern Arkansas.  Excellent trap for collecting flies, bees, and wasps.  Also good for several groups of beetles.  Collecting head filled with 70% ethanol mixed with ethylene glycol.


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## Dark Raptor (Aug 4, 2005)

Wow. This forest looks really nice. In Polish Białowieża primeval forest marshy areas are real 'biodiversity hotspots'. In 2001 my friends collected there more than 300.000 specimens and 727 species of epigeic arthropods. Over 13.000 saproxylic beetles (more than 450 species). 29.341 mycophagous insects (687 species). To sum up. They get, during the whole project, 403.577 specimens belonging to 1800 species. This is probably the reachest place in whole Europe.


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## Black Hawk (Aug 4, 2005)

i built a big light trap this winter. haven't taken it out yet tho, i forgot about it until this thread. i'll have to see it the trees and whatever else behind my house yeild anything interesting. probably just really big katydid and moths but it'll get some pics for you all 
EDIT: i won't be able to do it tonight aparently, i'm having trouble with my set up, hopefully i'll be able to get the kinks worked out before too long tho


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## CustomNature (Aug 5, 2005)

Hey folks.  It wasnt a bad night I suppose.  I got home around 2:30am and I just got the pics and stuff uploaded.  We found a ton of chinese mantids, quite a few stickbugs, and a few other odds and ins.  I'll post a few pics from the trip now, but I'll post more pics of what we actually found tomorrow.  Here they are:

After about 2 and 1/2 hours of driving, we finally made it to our collection location, Lancaster PA.







Here we are heading down the trail to get to some hotspots.  Mantis territory!  Those are my crew. (Im behind the camera most of these)







Heres a pic I snapped of one of the little guys.  All of them are Tenoderas and just about all of them were subadult, except 2 adults we found.







Welp, he was our final reward for the time we spent at the mantis area.  21 total.


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## CustomNature (Aug 5, 2005)

It started getting late here, so we packed up and moved onto another area to hunt for some nocturnal insects.  (Thats me in the fatigues!)







Heres me trying the whole "sugaring" technique for the first time.  I whipped up a syrup made of pure maple syrup, bananas, and sugar.  I didnt have very much luck with it tonight, but thats because we were kind of on a schedule and only were able to check back after about 35 minutes or so.   







This last pic is a really cool place.  There is a large swamp and right in the center of it is about a 10ft in diameter island.  There is a pretty small land-bridge to get out to it, and the island bares a single tree.  However, the neat thing about it is thats the ONLY spot to find walkingsticks.  We collected about 5 specimens of Diapheromera femorata there tonight, but there were a ton more.  Pretty neat peace of land.







Welp, that's enough for me tonight.  It's 5:11am now and I really need to get some sleep!  I'll post pics of the other critters I caught tomorrow.  G'night guys.


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## CustomNature (Aug 5, 2005)

Hey Raptor, when I keep thinking about how you said you wont show you got the carrion beetles, I've got to ask.  Did you use pitfall traps or something??  I happened to catch about a dozen of Necrophila americana in a pitfall trap a few weeks ago, but the bait in the trap was a chunk of banana.  :?


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## Dark Raptor (Aug 5, 2005)

I see you had succesfull hunting. We have in Poland only one mantid - Mantis religiosa, and this specie is protected.

Yes. Sometimes I'm using pitfall-traps with small pieces of carrion. But the best results gives checking every dead corpse... my favorite are deers  :} 

I think ecology of Necrophila is very similar to european genus Silpha. They eat carrion of small invertebrates (like snails) and vertebrates (especially rhodents). They can be also attracted by decomposing organic matter (I think ethanol is very imoprtant attractant). So it was possible to catch them in 'banana-trap'.


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## Black Hawk (Aug 8, 2005)

well i set up my light trap last night so here's some pics, i set it up in my backyard and i got some decent insects i think. i caught an assasin bug, three katydids and what looks like some sort of velvet ant :?


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## Black Hawk (Aug 8, 2005)

anyone know what this is? i think it's a velvet ant but i don't know since i've never come across one before   btw, it's a good thing i set my trap out last night, tonight they are spraying insecticide from planes over the whole town because they are afraid of West Nile Virus on our misquitos


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## Dark Raptor (Aug 8, 2005)

Black Hawk said:
			
		

>


This one looks like some kind of cerambycid beetle... and I think I see one Mecoptera on that white cloth.

You should try to use UV light. It will attract more insects, especially large moths (like family _Sphingidae_) and larger beetles.


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## Black Hawk (Aug 8, 2005)

that's why i opted for the mercury vapor light its supposed to pump out visible and UV light i think, i attracted more beetles than anything i'm just not as interested in them sorry Dark Raptor  since your interested tho, i suppose it wouldn't hurt to post some pics of the bettles for you.
p.s.- i found out that the pesticide is only supposed to affect misquitos, i sure hope so


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## Dark Raptor (Aug 8, 2005)

Thanks 

First and the last one looks like european scarabaeid beetle Serica brunnea, but this one is much darker.
Third one it is some kind of Carabid beetle. I don't like small species so I won't try to ID it   
The second one belongs to _Chrysomelidae_ family. It is strange, because they are active during a day.
Fourth one it is _Coccinellidae_ (Ladybird) beetle. I've never seen anything like that. It has strange colour, very different from our european species.


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## Black Hawk (Aug 8, 2005)

Dark Raptor said:
			
		

> Thanks


no problem Dark Raptor, i knew you'd like those  
there is also a dead ten-line june bug on my back porch i might go back and get for a collection. i should start one with all the cool bug in my yard ;P i have some collections friends have made with local species, one has a HUGE bettle, and a professional collection i know you'd love to see. i might post pics of some of the pinned specimens later if you beg and plead


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## Dark Raptor (Aug 8, 2005)

Black Hawk said:
			
		

> i have some collections friends have made with local species, one has a HUGE bettle, and a professional collection i know you'd love to see. i might post pics of some of the pinned specimens later if you beg and plead


You've got no mercy, I've got my proud  ;P 

I will only say 'Ni!'... ermmmm, that was 'Monty Python and the Holly Grail'... I will only say 'Can you show me later these beetles, please?'


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## Empi (Aug 8, 2005)

Black Hawk said:
			
		

> good thing i set my trap out last night, tonight they are spraying insecticide from planes over the whole town because they are afraid of West Nile Virus on our misquitos


 Yeah that is nice of them to kill of all the insects just to kill the vampires.  I wish there were insects big enough to eat people like that!    :evil:


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## Black Hawk (Aug 8, 2005)

Dark Raptor said:
			
		

> You've got no mercy, I've got my proud  ;P
> 
> I will only say 'Ni!'... ermmmm, that was 'Monty Python and the Holly Grail'... I will only say 'Can you show me later these beetles, please?'


don't worry, who wouldn't understand a monty python quote, i mean...it's practically the Bible of cinematography   don't worry i'll get you some pics and a cute green shiny bettle i found on the ground here  

QOUTE: I wish there were insects big enough to eat people like that!   :evil:  


sick'em boy  ;P


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## Black Hawk (Aug 8, 2005)

here are the pics of the professionally made collection with scientific names for most of them and the last pic is of the shiny bettle i found here  


ENJOY DARK RAPTOR      :drool:


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## Black Hawk (Aug 8, 2005)

here are the collections friends gave me that they had to make for school, there's a complete shot and a close up of the bettle section for each and then the last one is a close up of the largest bettle in the second collection


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## CustomNature (Aug 8, 2005)

Man Black Hawk, you made out pretty good I'd say.  Could you do me a big favor and show a close up pic of your mercury vapor light setup??  I want to make one, but I'm not too "electronically gifted."   I was going to buy a fixture at Lowe's the other day, the kind that you would set up above your driveway or whatnot, but I wasnt sure how to convert it so you can just plug it into an AC outlet??  I saw a few bits of electrical tape on your cords and I looked like the rest of the fixture you had separate (I'm assuming it has a transformer of sorts in there), but it certainly got the job done for you.  If you can give me any kind of instructions on how to build one, that would be great.  I was going to wing it, but I knew with my luck I'd end up frying myself.


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## Black Hawk (Aug 9, 2005)

ok, i'll try to explain it the best i can...
1. buy the vapor light, should come with the transformer, bulb and bag with stuff to attach it to your house.

2. take out the transformer and unscrew the ceramic bulb socket.

3. attach electical cord to extend the bulb out of the transformer, in mine it's the yellow lamp cord. make sure it can handle the volts the transformer uses.

4. get out the instruction manual on how to connect the light to household current, and attach a male socket to it instead of the house current (in mine its the black power cord i stole from a hairdryer i took apart, make sure it's not an old crummy socket. you don't want it to fall apart, it needs to be sort of rugged)

5. put all cords out the back hole and use something to cover the hole from where the bulb would normally come out, on mine i just duct taped it up.

just another note: make sure not to mix up black and white wires, don't attach a red/white cord to where a black should be. i might come back later with photos and update this discription to make it easier to understand. please tell me if you don't understand anything i said so i can post photos or clarify for you. don't want you to fry urself pickle


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## Dark Raptor (Aug 9, 2005)

Thanks again friend     

I feel much better when I see so many buprestid, cerambycid and scarabaeid beetles  hmmm.... I see even my favourite tenebrionid beetle - _Blaps_  Everything looks great.


I don,t understand only one thing. Why they just pinned very small beetles (like ladybirds in the last picture). I usually glue them to small cardboards. They look much better and you don't dammage them:





Like this small Rhagium inquisitor between R. sycophanta (left) and R. mordax (right).

Again, thanks! I'll try to take some pics of my collection, but I don't know when I'll be able to get digital camera.


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## Black Hawk (Aug 9, 2005)

well it was only a collection for a high school project. i don't think they intended for it to last very long so i don't think they took the time to preserve the smaller specimens as well   i knew you'd like to see all those beetles, i personally love the ones in the collection with the scorpion


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## CustomNature (Aug 9, 2005)

Thanks Black Hawk, I think I understand the basic construction of the lamp so far.  We shall see though once I actually try to build one.  The most electrical rigging I have really done is cutting up extension cords and splicing in a dimmer switch and connecting that whole setup to pieces of heat tape.   I might end up back here with some questions though.  :?


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## CustomNature (Aug 9, 2005)

Here's a few of my pics from the critters I collecting on my last trip (in the begining of this thread).  

I haven't IDed any of this stuff yet, so maybe you guys could just make it easier and quick for me.   I found this little guy dug in a hole on a rotted stump:














This is a really really wierd spider I found.  Well, at least I think it's weird as I have never seen one before.  Who know, they might be super common in Lancaster, but certainly not where I live.  It had a very unusual and spikey abdomen.













And finally this is another spider I found that I havent seen around where I live.  I thought it was neat looking so I grabbed it.














All in all it was a good trip.  I didn't find as many beetles as I would have like to, but oh well... ya cant win 'em all.


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## CustomNature (Aug 10, 2005)

*New light trap*

Well I whipped up a light trap tonight that is out there as we speak.  I'm trying to come up with the best design and a friend of mine suggested this set up.  What it is, is a free standing work-light stand with two halogen lamps ontop.  I point the halogens over an open field shining directly at the wooded areas beyond the field.  Behind the halogens, I have two blacklights set up shining on sheets, one sheet haning and one on the ground.  The theory is that the bright halogens attract the insects and the blacklights help the insects to stay.  Only after about 10 minutes or so I'm getting alot of moths and such (as expected), but I'm really hoping to get some sort of coleoptera.  However it is awefully cool out, so I am not expecting much in that department.  

The first pic is a pic of the over all light trap.  The second is a closer pic of the back half of the trap, the blacklights.  I'll keep you posted on how things go.


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## GQ. (Aug 10, 2005)

Here is a link you might appreciate for a cheap mercury vapor light setup.  Those MV lights are hot as ever so watch your skin.  

http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/zEEB/butterflies/JoelMV.html


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## CustomNature (Aug 10, 2005)

Welp, it's 3:45a.m. and I'm callin it quits for tonight.  I think I was a bit pushy with going out tonight anyway since it was so cool and rather foggy out.  None-the-less, I brought in a few bugs here and there.  Below are pics from the nights finds.


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