Natural world
Sheltered areas are great places for arthropods to make their homes, the less disturbed the better. It could be the kind of place to find beautiful spiders or squirming maggots. All you have to do is come inside the Study in the Bug House and take a look – if you dare!
Even if you don’t make it to World Museum Liverpool's Bug House, you can still have a look for arthropods all around you. Here are some hints and tips for budding insect collectors, including some of the equipment used by professional entomologists (the people who study insects) and some simple traps you could set at home.
Different nets do different jobs. Heavy frames are good for sweeping through dense vegetation, while lightweight frames are excellent for flying insects. Basically, nets are used for catching insects. These can then be transfered to containers so they can be easily viewed and identified before they are released, or examined more closely under a microscope.
The malaise trap is a flight interception trap based on the premise that flying insects will always try to escape upwards when they hit a barrier. It is an open sided tent with two ends, a sloping roof and most importantly a collecting bottle at the top. The container can be removed to collect the insects for identification. This trap is particularly suitable for catching bees, wasps and flies.
A beating tray is used where insects rely on their natural camouflage for defence and remain still, eg in amongst trees and shrubs. You basically stretch a piece of light coloured cloth between two supports underneath a tree or shrub which is then beaten or vigorously shaken, taking care not to damage the plant. Insects that have taken refuge there will fall into the tray for collection. An upside down umbrella also works well.
Most moths are attracted by light, so this is used to lure them into a trap. The light in the trap is left on overnight then the catch is identified and counted the following morning. The mercury vapour lamps in the trap are particularly attractive to moths, which fly in ever decreasing circles until they fall into the base of the trap. There they crawl into the egg boxes provided and rest up for the night. A trap like this is the ideal way to survey populations of moths.
Entomologists use industrial sized vacuums to suck up terrestrial arthropods from low-lying vegetation. The contents are emptied into a large container and the insects are then sorted from the vegetation that has also been collected.
The best method for collecting small insects is with a pooter or aspirator. A pooter consists of a small container with two tubes inserted into holes in the lid, one of which has a piece of muslin or similar fine mesh covering the end. To use the pooter place the uncovered tube over the insect you’d like to collect and suck on the other tube. The muslin covering will prevent you from swallowing the insect, so it should be safely drawn into the container. Pooters are also useful for sorting insects from the vegetation and other items collected using a beating tray, vacuum or sweep net.
If you are interested in collecting and studying insects but don’t have any of the specialist equipment mentioned above, you could always use a water bowl or pitfall trap. All that you need to set these traps is some everyday household equipment – and a bit of patience. If you fill a white or coloured bowl with water and a tiny drop of washing up liquid then leave it outside, insects will be attracted as if it was a flower and get trapped in the surface film of the water.
Pitfall traps act in a similar way with insects and spiders falling into a smooth sided container that they are unable to climb out from. A plastic cup or jar is buried to the level of the ground to disguise it from passing insects. It must be regularly checked and eventually removed as it will continue to collect insects while it is in place.
If you would like to catch flying beetles and other insects you could set up a flight interception trap by putting up a tight net above some collecting trays. When a flying insect hits the net it will fall into the collecting tray beneath it.
