Insect Collection

[Scorpendra]

So I'm taking a class in entomology...it's the reason I chose the college I'm attending but that's a whole other story. Good for the basics, but it's like nails on a chalkboard when he calls roaches "Dictyoptera" and mantids and phasmids "Orthoptera". Anyway, It's a requirement for the class to have a collection of insects. It's been real tough since spring is only just rearing its head. So far I have...

a Vespula I found dead in my shed
a hisser nymph (or is that cheating? )
some species of rove beetle I found dying near my house
and a few Rhinotermes flavipes I dug into a rotting stump to find. A few workers and a soldier.
a millipede I didn't ID yet

There's also some kind of unidentified beetle that I got from inside a light fixure that I'm not sure if I'll include or not since it's falling apart. I might have some pics later.

 

[GiantVinegaroon]

I would think hisser nymphs would be cheating, and millipedes probably don't count either...well for me they didn't.

And wow at your professor using super old classification techniques. He must be living under a rock(good way to get more bugs!)

Keep looking under bark. I was finding spiders and click beetles in the snow while looking under bark, as well as a longhorn beetle and unidentified larvae I'm raising.

Now that it's warming up, you might be able to find bald-faced hornets under logs. You can also try rearing dragonfly nymphs and using a Berlese funnel for Collembola.

 

[Scorpendra]

He shrugs off recent developments by saying "some other taxonomists..." yadda yadda yadda, but yeah. I guess it's hard to adapt when you spent 8 years drilling it into your head and however many years teaching it to horticulture students who don't even give a rat's...

I might just ask him about the hisser. After all, he might be interested to know that the elusive, mythical "person who keeps pet tarantulas" often mentioned in textbooks is sitting in his class.

*I meant Reticulitermes in the OP.

 

[jmarcian@mix.wv]

i am an avid collector, and yes, to find the good stuff right now, peel bark back. You'll never know what you'll find

 

[GiantVinegaroon]

I'd recommend relaxing the old beetle and then pinning it its parts are still intact. If they fell off, get some clear nail polish and a dissecting microscope to put it back together(the nail polish acts as glue).