WIn 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.
WA beating net, also known as beating sheet, beat sheet or beating tray, is a device used to collect insects. It consists of a white cloth stretched out on a circular or rectangular frame which may be dismantled for transport. The beating tray is held under a tree or shrub and the foliage is then shaken or beaten with a stick. Insects fall from the plant and land on the cloth. They can then be examined or collected using a pooter.
WA butterfly net is one of several kinds of nets used to collect insects. The entire bag of the net is generally constructed from a lightweight mesh to minimize damage to delicate butterfly wings. Other types of nets used in insect collecting include beat nets, aquatic nets, and sweep nets. Nets for catching different insects have different mesh sizes. Aquatic nets usually have bigger, more 'open' mesh. Catching small aquatic creatures usually requires an insect net. The mesh is smaller and can capture more.
WThe electrical penetration graph or EPG is a system used by biologists to study the interaction of insects such as aphids, thrips, and leafhoppers with plants. Therefore, it can also be used to study the basis of plant virus transmission, host plant selection by insects and the way in which insects can find and feed from the phloem of the plant. It is a simple system consisting of a partial circuit which is only completed when a species such as aphids, which are the most abundantly studied, inserts its stylet into the plant in order to probe the plant as a suitable host for feeding. The completed circuit is displayed visually as a graph with different waveforms indicating either different insect activities such as saliva excretion or the ingestion of cellular contents or indicating which tissue type has been penetrated. So far, around ten different graphical waveforms are known, correlating with different insect/plant interaction events.
WThough there is no international authority mandating standards for the collection and preservation of specimens of insects and similar invertebrates, entomology has been an amateur and scientific activity for over two centuries. During this period practices varied widely and in many respects commonly differed greatly from modern practice. However, by the mid-twentieth century a range of technique and of equipment had emerged that amount to a de facto standard. Although there is some flexibility concerning the details, practitioners who diverge too widely from that standard are likely to find their work ignored as unacceptable anywhere in the modern world. One beneficial effect of the standard is that equipment and supplies have become available for practically any aspect of collection, preservation and documentation of specimens.
WA flight interception trap is a widely used trapping, killing, and preserving system for flying insects. It is especially well-suited for collecting beetles, since these animals usually drop themselves after flying into an object, rather than flying upward. Flight Interception Traps are mainly used to collect flying species which are not likely to be attracted to bait or light.
WInsect traps are used to monitor or directly reduce populations of insects or other arthropods, by trapping individuals and killing them. They typically use food, visual lures, chemical attractants and pheromones as bait and are installed so that they do not injure other animals or humans or result in residues in foods or feeds. Visual lures use light, bright colors and shapes to attract pests. Chemical attractants or pheromones may attract only a specific sex. Insect traps are sometimes used in pest management programs instead of pesticides but are more often used to look at seasonal and distributional patterns of pest occurrence. This information may then be used in other pest management approaches.
WA killing jar is a device used by entomologists to kill captured insects quickly and with minimum damage. The jar, typically glass, must be hermetically sealable and one design has a thin layer of hardened plaster of Paris on the bottom to absorb the killing agent. The killing agent will then slowly evaporate, allowing the jar to be used many times before needing to refresh the jar. The absorbent plaster of Paris layer also helps prevent the agent sticking to and damaging insects. Crumpled paper tissue is also placed in the jar for the same reason. A second method utilises a wad of cotton or other absorbent material placed in the bottom of the jar. Liquid killing agent is then added until the absorbent material is nearly saturated. A piece of stiff paper or cardboard cut to fit the inside of the jar tightly is then pressed in.
WA 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 terylene netting and can be various colours. Insects fly into the tent wall and are funnelled into a collecting vessel attached to highest point. It was invented by René Malaise in 1934.
WMoth traps are devices used by entomologists to capture moths. Most use a light source. Pheromone traps are also used.
WA pheromone trap is a type of insect trap that uses pheromones to lure insects. Sex pheromones and aggregating pheromones are the most common types used. A pheromone-impregnated lure, as the red rubber septa in the picture, is encased in a conventional trap such as a bottle trap, Delta trap, water-pan trap, or funnel trap. Pheromone traps are used both to count insect populations by sampling, and to trap pests such as clothes moths to destroy them.
WA pitfall trap is a trapping pit for small animals, such as insects, amphibians and reptiles. Pitfall traps are mainly used for ecology studies and ecologic pest control. Animals that enter a pitfall trap are unable to escape. This is a form of passive collection, as opposed to active collection where the collector catches each animal. Active collection may be difficult or time-consuming, especially in habitats where it is hard to see the animals such as thick grass.
WA Berlese funnel, also known as Tullgren funnel, Berlese trap, or Berlese-Tullgren funnel, is an apparatus used to extract living organisms, particularly arthropods, from samples of soil. The Tullgren funnel works by creating a desiccation gradient over the sample such that mobile organisms will move away from the dry environment and fall into a collecting vessel, where they perish and are preserved for examination. The illustration shows how it works: a funnel (E) contains the soil or litter (D), and a heat source (F) such as an electric lamp (G) heats the litter. Animals escaping from the desiccation of the litter descend through a filter (C) into a preservative liquid (A) in a receptacle (B). This illustration is merely a schematic, since usually the soil sample will not be crumbled and poured into the funnel. In fact, the soil sample is placed on a mesh sieve that will allow the soil animals to pass but should retain most of the soil particles.