PEET - Austral Staphylinidae

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

These methods produce by far the most staphylinid specimens, and the most insects in general. Indirect collecting relies on various traps to collect the insects straight from the environment, and the processing of different substrate samples through Berlese funnels to extract the insects. The reason these methods are so effective in general is the long period of time for which traps can be set compared to single event collecting; we set them for a month or more at the first of a loop or line of trap sites. Their ability to function unattended, when properly designed and set up, also effectively multiplies our collecting time.

Indirect collecting techniques include passively acting flight intercept traps and unbaited pitfall traps, and methods that use an attractant, including carrion traps and blacklight traps (this can also be a direct collecting method when used with a sheet from which insects are hand collected). Active substrate collection is another indirect collecting method that usually involves prior sifting in the field (particularly forest leaf litter), followed by subsequent extraction of invertebrates using Berlese funnels (or Winkler eclectors).

Flight Intercept Trap (FIT)
Carrion Trap
Blacklight Trap
Substrate Collection, Sifting, and Berlese/Tullgren Processing

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