Reports 2023

Introduction to Entomology mini-course (July 2023)

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Igapó's first activity was aimed at training future biologists through a practical mini-course. The Introduction to Entomology mini-course took place over the weekend of July 1st and 2nd, on the banks of the Urubu River in Presidente Figueiredo. 

 

Through collaboration with Natal Falls Camping we had access to different types of habitat, including old secondary forest, floodplain forest and campinarana. Participants learned how to make different traps and how to set them and many others in the field. They were also able to use the pike to collect insects and the net to sample aquatic invertebrates (and the occasional catfish). After lunch and a refreshing juice, they were able to enjoy the beautiful waterfall and the wide Urubu River, surrounded by dragonflies and a male Morpho sp. blue butterfly patrolling its territory.

 

The activities from Saturday night to Sunday were two that are always very popular: the night trail and the luminous sheet. Despite the huge, bright full moon, several moths, praying mantises and beetles made their way to the sheet. The visitors included some Pyralidae moths very different in their multiple patterns and colors from their more commonly seen relatives in our homes, the flour moths. 

 

During the night trail we spotted tiny scorpions, still juveniles, which we could only spot with the black light flashlight. One of them was smaller than a fingernail and easily disappeared among the leaves of the same color. We also found tarantulas, a huge variety of hoppers, crickets, millipedes and vinegar scorpions. The latter are not scorpions, they are also arachnids but of a different order, the Uropygi. They have glands that excrete acetic acid, with a characteristic vinegar smell, hence their common name.

 

In summary, this was a very productive and interesting activity, from which the participants gained important field experience, we fostered future projects and collaborations at the site, as well as obtaining a great diversity of invertebrates with our samples. Despite the short space of time, the hanging trap, placed in the dense forest, and the Malaise trap, in the grassland, bore good fruit. We'll be announcing new editions of this course soon!