Tag: Curculionoidae

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Beetles of the Museum, 2015 redux | Curator of Coleoptera

Dear Beetlers,

Well as 2015 becomes an ever distant memory and we scuttle, creep, scurry, amble and roll (for this is how beetles move right?) into 2016, let us look back on a very successful year of collection enhancement.

Photo showing three people stood at the edge of a drop in a forest in Borneo
Extreme collecting in Borneo: Alessandro, Max and Howard erecting a Flight Interception Trap on a precipice!

The collection here is a big one, and serves to represent the world’s known Coleoptera biodiversity as comprehensively as possible but it is an uphill task to curate, much in the same way as a dung beetle may struggle against the desert sands with its dung ball prize.

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The beetles of Bookham Common | Identification Trainers for the Future

Currently all five trainees from the Identification Trainers for the Future project are nestled away within various departments in the Museum on their curation placements. Here, we catch up with Katy Potts:

I have spent the past month in the Coleoptera department delving into the wonderful world of beetles. Part of my placement involves working on a project under the guidance of Max Barclay, Head of Coleoptera, assessing the beetle fauna on Bookham Common in Surrey.

Photo of an oak tree with funnel trap suspended from a branch half way up the bough
Lindgren funnel traps in the oak woodland at Bookham Common

Early in the season I set up four Lindgren funnel traps in the oak woodland at Bookham Common and I have returned to each trap fortnightly to empty the traps. I can only describe this process as resembling Christmas; as I unlock the collecting pot underneath the funnel I am faced with an array of invertebrates, most importantly the beetles.

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