PEET - Austral Staphylinidae

Methods | Collecting Methods for Staphylinidae and other Staphylinoidea: Direct Collection Methods

Once we have set the flight intercept and carrion traps at a site, most of our time in the field is spent searching for staphylinoids in their habitats. Direct collecting includes any methods where we physically search for specimens in the environment, or attract them using a light or bait, following which we can then be selective about what is collected (as opposed to indirect collecting methods, which collect indiscriminately according to each method’s sampling parameters). Key advantages of direct collecting are that it allows identification of beetles’ microhabitats and collection of live beetles for rearing or behavioral observations; almost nothing is known about the biology or life history attributes of most staphylinids. For example, live pitfall trapping as a direct collecting method (i.e. used without trap fluid) can be effective for collecting specimens of adults and larvae of many staphylinids, and of course can be combined with any of the possible baits described elsewhere to target particular groups. For many staphylinids, direct collecting with subsequent rearing is the only feasible way to obtain positive adult-larval associations. Live-collecting from various substrates using Berlese funnels provides another source of rearable beetles.

A variety of equipment is needed for the various direct collecting techniques (see below), but most important is some kind of aspirator for sucking up very small, fast running beetles that can escape easily when disturbed, like many staphylinoids. We use a simple device called a pooter except in wet situations, where blunt-tipped flexible forceps work better.

Armed with a pooter and other necessary items, our primary direct methods, each of which is described below, include hand collecting from specific microhabitats, small-scale pyrethroid insecticide fogging, collecting from a blacklight, and beating vegetation. There are other methods such as sweep netting and collecting directly from sifted material in the field that we do not use so much. Each technique on the linked pages below more or less in order of its relative usefulness for collecting staphylinids.

Hand Collecting ("Niche collecting")
Pyrethrin Fogging
Blacklighting
Beating Vegetation

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