Biology 307
FIELD SCHOOL!
Entomology
is a component of field school; it can be extremely exciting to find "good
bugs",
especially after a hearty chase! On a more scientific note, insects caught
during field school have been noteworthy in that they have represented
extensions of known ranges, or have become specimens retained by our collection,
and that of the
NS Museum of Natural History.
Here are some examples:
"The best specimen is Ligmarus lecontei (Leng), an interesting click beetle which, while previously known from NS, I've not seen a specimen yet in any collection. Similarly, the [water scavenger beetles] Hydrobius melaenus and Enochrus perplexus, while known from NS and are not uncommon, are heretofore unrepresented in the NS Museum holdings, thus we are very pleased to obtain specimens."
Hi Randy, I had a chance to examine the insects that you sent up earlier. The species marked with an asterisk (*) are new county records (9): mostly common species but hitherto unrecorded in these areas, so valuable data.
* Synuchus impunctatus (Carabidae)
* Dinetus horni (Gyrinidae)
* Syneta extorris borealis (Chrysomelidae)
* Necrobia violacea (Cleridae)
Necrobia violacea (Linné) is an introduced Palearctic checkered beetle. There are records from Halifax, Kings, & Cape Breton County but this is only the fourth [Nova Scotia] locality (and first on the northern shore). Most clerids are found either as predators of bark beetles in coniferous forests or else on flowers but this genus specializes in carrion where they saprophagous and predaceous of fly larvae. They are neat, pretty, and not often collected.
Graphoderus liberus (Dytiscidae)
Graphoderus liberus (Say) is not that unusual: there are records from Antigonish, Halifax, Lunenburg, & Kings counties but it seems to be not often collected (I've never found it, but then I don't do a lot of collecting of aquatic Coleoptera). We do have 3-4 specimens in the collection but it is a nice addition.
* Pterostichus pennsylvanicus
(Carabidae)
* Hydroporus striola (Dytiscidae)
Hydroporus striola (Gyllenhal) is broadly distributed in NS and not uncommon but we only have one specimen of it in the NS Museum collection, so its a good addition to the collection.
* Quedius molochinus (Staphylinidae)
Quedius molochinus (Gravenhorst) is previously recorded only from Kings & Queens counties. It may well also be more widely distributed but Staphylinids are (despite their huge numbers) less collected than many other species of beetles so for many species distribution records are spare. There isn't a prior specimen in the NS Museum collection.
* Tropisternus mixtus (Hydrophilidae)
* Dineutus nigrior (Gyrinidae)
