TERRESTRIAL ARTHROPOD COLLECTION
PRE-AP GT BIOLOGY FALL 2009
Purpose:
Arthropods are the most abundant organisms on Earth. Within the Phylum Arthropoda there is great variety. Your job is to investigate the diversity of the arthropods that can be found locally and illustrate this as part of a class collection.
Materials:
• Pieces of cardboard or Styrofoam (to pin specimens)
• Fine straight pins (no plastic heads)
• Possibly:
§ jar with lid
§ flashlight
§ hand lens
§ cotton ball
§ nail polish remover
§ paper scraps
§ glue
§ net/drop cloth
§ miscellaneous (read attached)
Procedure:
In general, you are going to 1) kill the arthropod, 2) pin the arthropod, and 3) bring them in to add to our class collection. We will classify and identify them later. Below is a summary of some of the easier approaches to these steps.
1. Killing the Arthropod –Glue a cotton ball to the lid of a small jar. Partially dampen the cotton ball with nail polish remover. Put the arthropod in the jar for several hours. Do not allow the liquid to get on the specimen.
2. Pinning the Arthropod – pinning varies with the type of arthropod. In general, you want to make sure that you do not damage the organism and that it is securely attached. Some guidelines to follow are:
- pins usually do NOT go in the middle of the body. (see diagrams)
- butterflies and moths should have their wings spread out flat
- specimens should be suspended on the pin, a little below the head of the pin
- hold the specimen between the thumb and forefinger of one hand and insert the pin with the other; a twisting or drilling action is sometimes helpful to get through thick exoskeletons
- for very tiny insects, use elongated triangles of cardboard and VERY SMALL amounts of glue to attach the specimen to the point of the cardboard, then pin the cardboard (see diagrams); it is recommended that you pin the cardboard before gluing on the bug
3. Bringing the Arthropod – The main thing to remember when transporting your specimens is that you do not want to damage them. If you put them in a plastic baggie at the bottom of your backpack, they may just be a pile of dust when you turn it in. Put them in a small box of some kind (shoe box, jewelry box, cereal box) and be careful with it. You may come in before school to turn them in.
Requirements of Contribution to Collection:
Your contribution must contain 5 specimens, each correctly preserved and pinned. Each of the 5 you bring must be different (you can’t just get 5 black crickets, but you can bring in 5 different species of cricket, if you can find them.) Points are earned for uniqueness / appearance of specimen as well as for pinning. We want a variety of arthropods to show the immense diversity of these organisms; therefore, the points you earn for a specimen will decrease if more people bring in the same species. For example, a housefly initially worth 10 points may be worth 5 points at grading because more people brought in houseflies.
All specimens collected must be typically found in TEXAS. Use caution when collecting venomous organisms. Do not include larvae or exoskeletons as one of your specimens; it must be an adult organism. ****NO TARANTULAS****** (or other soft-bodied spiders)
Your collection MUST be turned in by _Thursday, October 1, 2009 at the beginning of your class period_.
LATE PROJECTS WILL NOT be accepted!
GRADING RUBRIC
TERRESTRIAL ARTHROPOD COLLECTION
PRE-AP GT BIOLOGY
STUDENT NAME ______PERIOD ______
You will receive up to 10 points for each bug you collect = up to 50 points
Good technique/proper pinning is worth 7 points for each bug = 35 points
Label with your name, date collected, location collected for each bug is worth 3 points each = 15 points
Teacher Discretion (-10 points) ______/10
You may lose up to 10 points if you have not followed directions on the project. The explanation of any points deducted is: ______
What is good technique? At a minimum, it is:
· Specimens properly pinned (see attachment)
· Pins straight up and down
· Small or soft-bodied organisms on a triangular cardboard
· Wings spread (where required)
· No missing/decaying body parts
· Bug suspended in the middle of the pin
· Using right kind of pin (no plastic heads)
“Bug” Technique Identification Label
everyday (everyone relatively cool & never score of 1 to 7 score of 0 or 1 (inc. &/or
has one) (6) common (8) seen before (10) incorrect) or 2-3 (great)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Total Points ______/100
Small sample list of everyday arthropods (e.g. the ones “everyone” will probably catch). Remember that you get more points for unique or uncommon arthropods.
house fly fire ant sugar ant honey bee cockroach black beetle pill bug
wood spider house moth grasshopper flea
A few less common arthropods:
ladybug dragonfly lightning bug zipper spider cicada silverfish wasp
What should the identification look like? Where should it be?
Your identification tags should be formatted as shown below. They should include the collector’s name (you), the date collected and the county & state it was collected in
You will add the classification in the spring
Your tag should be pinned at the front edge so that the bug is overlapping onto the label, but not covering up any of the information on the label.
Some BUG Tips
· Write the due date on the top of your instruction sheet
· Write the due date at home on your mom’s calendar J
· Make a reminder in your phone
· DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE NIGHT BEFORE IT’S DUE to start collecting
· Collect, then kill & pin as you get your bugs!!!! If you don’t pin your bugs as soon as they die, they will become brittle and break instead of pinning nicely
· Have a few extras if you can find them so if one totally falls apart while you are pinning it you can try again.
· Sometimes if you use a cotton ball to spread the legs of a spider over while it is still “soft” (ewww), it will keep them from becoming a little blob.
· Soft-bodied spiders rot; preserve with care. No tarantulas!
· Earthworms and snails are NOT arthropods!
· Make sure you have an adult organism!!!! (i.e. no caterpillars, nymphs, other larvae, pupae, or exoskeletons).
This year’s assignment is going to be a little different than in the past. You are going to collect 5 interesting and unique bugs. Can you have a common housefly or fire ant? Sure! But the more unique your collection, the more points you’ll get!
ATTACHMENT
TERRESTRIAL ARTHROPOD COLLECTION
PRE-AP GT BIOLOGY
Where to Collect Insects
1. Using a sweep net, sweep over grass, alfalfa, or weed patches.
2. Spread a cloth, newspaper, or inverted umbrella under a bush or shrub, then beat or shake the plant vigorously.
3. Overturn stones, logs, bark, leaf mold, and rubbish. Look under dung in pastures.
4. Watch for butterflies to alight, then drop a net over them.
5. Look around outdoor lights at night.
6. At night, suspend a sheet from a limb or clothesline with the lower part of the sheet spread on the ground. Direct headlights or spotlight on the sheet. The insects will be attracted to the white light. Hit against the sheet and drop onto the cloth below
7. Moths may be baited by daubing a mixture of crushed banana or peach and molasses or sugar on the bark of the trees, then visit the trees at night with a flashlight to collect the moths.
8. Locate soil insects by placing dirt & topsoil & leaf matter on a Berlese funnel.
9. Water insects may be seined with a water net.
Displaying the Insects
1. Insects may be mounted in shallow boxes such as a shoebox, cardboard box or other display box with a transparent lid for viewing the arthropods. An attractive box of this kind can be made by cutting out the main portion of the lid of the box (so that a 1.5 to 2.5 cm rim or frame remains around each side) and then gluing a piece of Plexiglas or acetate to the inside of the lid behind the frame.
2. Balsa wood, Styrofoam, foam core board or layers of soft corrugated cardboard should be glued to the bottom of the box.
Insects should be pinned with regular insect pins, which are longer and thinner than common pins. Sizes 2 and 3 are convenient sizes for general use.
Pin grasshoppers through the posterior part of the pronotum, a little to the right of the midline (Fig 14-19). Butterflies and moths are pinned through the center of the thorax, whereas bees, wasps, and flies are pinned through the thorax but a little to the right of the midline. Pin bugs (hemipterans) through the scutellum, a bit to the right of the midline, and beetles through the right elytron (forewing), halfway between the two ends of the body. To insert the pin, hold the insect between the thumb and forefinger of one hand and insert the pin with the other. Mount all specimens at a uniform height – about 2.5 cm above the point of the pin.
A tiny label with the date, place, and name of the collector may be added to the pin under the insect, and another label giving the scientific name of the insect may be placed under that.
A very small insect may be mounted on the point of an elongated triangular piece of light cardboard about 8 to 10 mm long and 3 to 4 mm wide at the base (Fig. 14-20). After putting the triangular cardboard mount on the pin, hold the pin and touch the tip of the cardboard triangle to the glue; then touch the insect with the gluey tip. Use as little glue a possible to hold the insect.
Many winged insects, such as butterflies, moths, and mayflies, are usually mounted first on a spreading board, which has a groove into which the body is pinned. The wings are then spread out and held in the proper position to dry. Care must be taken not to damage the insect, or to rub off the scales of a lepidopteran. The wings are carefully moved into position by pins and held by strips of paper pinned to the board. In butterflies, moths, and mayflies the rear margins of the front wings should be straight across, at right angles to the body; the hindwings should be far enough forward so that there is no gap between the forewings and hindwings. The front wing should overlap the front edge of the hindwing a little. With damselflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, and most other insects, the front margins of the hindwings should be straight across, with the front wing far enough forward that the forewings and hindwings do not touch.
Try to maneuver the wings by means of a pin held near the base of the wings – not through the wings, since that would make holes in the wings. Pin the wings securely with paper strips, using several strips if necessary. When completed, hold the body down with forceps and remove the pin from the thorax.
If the specimen is to be displayed on cotton under glass, the spreading board is not necessary. Pin the insect upside down (feet up) on a flat pinning surface, such as corrugated cardboard, and pin the wings with strips of paper as before.
Drying may take several days. If the abdomen, when touched gently with a pin, can be moved independently of the wings, the specimen is not dry enough; wait till the body is stiff before removing the pins and strips of paper.
Figure 14-19. How to pin insects. The dots indicate the location of the pins. A. Flies, B. Butterflies and moths, C. Bugs, D. Grasshoppers, E. Beetles
Figure 14-20. Pinning and labeling insects. Larger insects (A) are pinned through the body. Minute ones may be glued to the paper point, either dorsal side up (B) or laterally (C). Dates, places and scientific names may be printed on slips of paper beneath the insect.
Figure 14-21. Some diagnostic characters used in identifying insects. A. Ventral view of furcula (Collembola). B. Cornicles on abdomen (Homoptera). C. Forcepslike cerci (Dermaptera). D. Long cerci (Plecoptera). E. Conelike beak (Thysanoptera).
Dear MISD Biology Student and Parent,
Attached please find the instructions for completing the Part One* of the terrestrial arthropod collection that has been assigned and is due on _Thursday, October 1, 2009_.
The purposes of this project include:
· to become familiar with the variety of arthropods that are indigenous to this area,
· to gain experience in field biology techniques,
· to “get outside” and see some of the wonders of nature that abound in the variety of biomes in the state of Texas,
· and to satisfy the requirements for Biology set forth by the state of Texas in TEKS 8A which states, “The student knows applications of taxonomy and can identify its limitations. The student is expected to: (A) collect and classify organisms at several taxonomic levels such as species, phylum, and kingdom using dichotomous keys;…”
To insure and preserve the integrity of the assignment, we are asking your cooperation and agreement to the following:
· all insects will be collected in the “wild”;
· no insects will be purchased from professional collectors, on-line, or from previously made collections;