Beetle traps

[leon]

I'm in the process of making a few inexpensive traps for various beetles; ground-dwelling, tree-climbing, leaf-eating, etc.
Can anyone provide ideas on how make them ?

[wollastoni]

Hi Leon,

The simplest ones to do are :

- pitfalls : see a topic here : collector-secret.proboards.com/thread/82/find-carabus-summer

- banana traps : put a very old banana in a bottle like this one, as high as you can in an old tree.
It will attract Cetoniinae

[entomofou]

A friend of mine has made a document about traps : www.insecte.org/photos/archives/MES_PIEGES_A_INSECTES.pdf

In french, but very useful !

[leon]

wollastoni, thank you for those two methods, and I have an additional question : Using the pitfall trap, can I use it baiting with rotten meat for carrion beetles ?
leon

[betta132]

You'll get a lot of flies if you use rotten meat, but you'll probably also get carrion beetles. There's enough beetle diversity that if you put any kind of smelly food in a trap, you'll probably get at least one kind of beetle.

[leon]

Jun 25, 2016 19:23:37 GMT betta132 said:

You'll get a lot of flies if you use rotten meat, but you'll probably also get carrion beetles. There's enough beetle diversity that if you put any kind of smelly food in a trap, you'll probably get at least one kind of beetle.

All I've gotten so far is a bunch of ants (Formicidae Camptonus). But I'll keep trying.

[leon]

I've gotten only one so far, a ground beetle, genus as yet unknown. I'll try some more.

[betta132]

Do you have any idea if the beetles are just escaping? Maybe sprinkle a layer of flour into the bottom- it'll show beetle tracks and let you know if you had a visitor, and that way you can tell if your beetles are escaping or just never falling into it in the first place.
How many traps are you trying, and in what sort of environment?

[leon]

Jun 28, 2016 23:30:14 GMT betta132 said:

Do you have any idea if the beetles are just escaping? Maybe sprinkle a layer of flour into the bottom- it'll show beetle tracks and let you know if you had a visitor, and that way you can tell if your beetles are escaping or just never falling into it in the first place.
How many traps are you trying, and in what sort of environment?

The trap is a bottle-funnel type so I don't think it's possible for any insect, once inside, to escape. There was a large number of ants and flies there; just no beetles except for that one I showed.
I just started with one trap, and will try for more. My problem is that I live in a built-up area, so I put the trap next to a very small flower garden in front of my house. I plan to put one (or possibly two) in a wooded area in a park close to here. But, because it's a public park, I've got to put them in at closing time, and extract them as soon as the park opens to prevent others from touching them.
I saw a video last night of a professional insect hunter (he sells them) trapping carrion beetles in farmland. Made me jealous !