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Post by nomad on Feb 12, 2017 11:24:50 GMT
I usually visit my regional Museum to study during the winter, when the insects are out I am in the British countryside with my camera, having extended my interest into all insect orders there are lots to discover and surprise.
My last visit to the museum is typical, I arrive after an hour journey, most of it by train. The museum is a grand building of Edwardian Baroque architecture. The much older building was destroyed by Hitler's Luftwaffe along with its collections during the Second World War.
I arrive between 9am and 10am and meet the curator, I am introduced to the other visitors, two volunteer students (the grand University building is next door) and an artist who has come to draw bird specimens, her choices today are tawny and short-eared Owls.
An hour later we are all in the collections rooms in the basement of the museum. I have been designated a work area, the mammoth enclave, to my left are two huge mammoth skulls dug up in the 1820s. I am engrossed today among the collections of British moths, searching out endemic species, forms, aberrations and extinct species. Photographs are taken for further study, you need to record the variation in a species and their data, it is very important and I am given a light stand.
At a table sits the friendly artist, her work is of a very high quality, on a previous visit, I saw some of John James Audubon original paintings the museum holds, very valuable and by far the best bird artist that ever lived. The curator when not at her desk is with her students accessing fossil specimens for a display. We are a harmonious group.
After midday we go to the office of the first floor for lunch and I take this time to delve into the entomological library with its many rare and scarce works . In the afternoon, it is back down into the basement for more study. I leave around four and walk through the city for the exercise to the station.
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Post by kimberly on Feb 12, 2017 20:02:10 GMT
Why a scuttelerid as your choice ? Because it's pretty. Seriously, that's how I'm picky insects to feature in my novel. Except for the cicada. I chose him because I need his music. The scuttelrid only makes an appearance in one scene. He's not even a supporting character.
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Post by kimberly on Feb 12, 2017 20:05:41 GMT
It is truly good to hear that you have a good relationship with the museums you visit. I would have welcomed all such professional individuals with open arms -- had they ever shown up. The thing is that Entomology here in America is not quite the same as it is overseas. It never has been. Insect fairs have never existed here, few kids pursue it with any real interest anymore (past the age of ten), and the hobby itself can get to be somewhat expensive for many if their interest wavers towards exotics and the proper equipment for collection storage. I'm not sure what an insect fair is, but our local museum does a bugfest every year and my ten-year-old daughter, who loves all things insect related and wants to be an entomologist, has a blast. I didn't even think to visit a museum. We live in a smallish city so I'm not sure I'll meet with any luck, but I bet our zoo has something.
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Post by kimberly on Feb 12, 2017 20:06:13 GMT
This has all been very helpful. Thanks so much. I didn't realize how much there was to know until I started writing. I appreciate it!
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Post by kimberly on Feb 12, 2017 20:08:04 GMT
It looks like most of your questions were answered, body type is the determining factor when it comes to preserving insects. Soft bodied specimens are better represented with a liquid preservative, while those with harder exoskeletons are fine to be pinned. For your cicada, two things that come to mind are life cycle and their songs, but both would have been difficult to study in that time period. I guess you could have a species that only emerges during a solar eclipse or something, with the scientist baffled at such a unique emergence period and of course the scared Indian locals who want to know what they did to piss off Shiva When an entomologist is studying insects, they might be looking to see if there is any mimicry, whether or not it is a new species for the area, how long the insect lives for, what it eats, what eats it, the list goes on. It may be particularly exciting to discover that it has some medicinal benefit...or give you super powers, I'm thinking Peter Parker. So...how would one study an insect to find out what it eats, if there is any mimicry, etc.? Would they just watch it out in the open? Stick it in a box and study it? What does the process of studying it look like?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2017 21:03:28 GMT
Observation in the field is usually the best bet, it's hard to recreate habitat suitable for natural behavior. Even when you think you have a species figured out, they can surprise you. For example, many butterfly caterpillars can eat a variety of plants or change their taste over a few generations. For something like mimicry, it may require a large and coherent data set of species in the area to make an accurate prediction. A good example is a species of bird whose chick mimics a dangerous caterpillar.
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Post by exoticimports on Feb 13, 2017 15:21:03 GMT
Kimberly, where are you? Given you choice of Cornell, one might infer NY. But you mention a bug fair in your town, and I don't know of any bug fairs on the eastern US. There are a couple in Quebec.
I ask because there is a small display case with the tools of the trade (notebook, etc.) on display at the Strong Museum in Rochester, NY.
Have you reached out to those at Cornell?
Chuck
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Post by trehopr1 on Feb 13, 2017 19:07:06 GMT
Kimberly, insect fairs are usually 1 or 2 day events held in Europe or Japan for serious enthusiasts, collectors, and dealers of the Entomology persuasion. The so to speak "brethren of the net". These events host thousands of specimens for sale or trade, tons of books and literature available, leading dealers usually present for those special requests, and a host of others selling live specimens, equipment, jewelry, shirts and other assorted fair. They are super events which help enlighten others to the joys in our hobby and the world of these most diverse creatures. Collectors meet and greet at these events with ideas being exchanged. A real comradere enjoyed by all. Your bugfest I'm sure is on something of a much lesser scale but, still enjoyable for kids, families, and those with a "passing" interest in insects. Fairs are not held here as few dealers of entomology goods are left anymore and the laws governing specimen imports are so restrictive, costly, and generally difficult to live with !
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Post by kimberly on Feb 13, 2017 21:39:28 GMT
Kimberly, where are you? Given you choice of Cornell, one might infer NY. But you mention a bug fair in your town, and I don't know of any bug fairs on the eastern US. There are a couple in Quebec. I ask because there is a small display case with the tools of the trade (notebook, etc.) on display at the Strong Museum in Rochester, NY. Have you reached out to those at Cornell? Chuck I'm in Cincinnati, but I grew up on Long Island in NY. A bit far from Upstate. I hope to visit this summer so I can go back and put some details into my ms.
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