Beating Sheet

Does anyone here use beating sheets for collecting insects. It's used for shaking insects out of brushes, trees, and tall grass. Any experience with them, now where to get one, or how to make you own?

Thanks

Doesn't seem too productive to me.

Beating sheets aren't very productive, especially with my main interests. Many ants, caterpillars, phasmids and mantids can hold on tight enough. On the other hand, sweep nets are very effective. You'll be surprised when you somehow get thousands of little diptera and hemiptera on a mowed lawn. In an area with tall grass, You're almost gauranteed to find something

I have one and I've found that it's pretty useful for collecting Cerambycidae and Buprestidae. You just have to be ready to move quickly otherwise they may try to fly off. It's a relatively easy way to collect a nice series and it takes less time than trying to just look. Probably a relatively decent way to collect cryptic species too. Something that holds on well though likely won't fall unless you get a really good whack on the branch/foliage.

pannaking22 wrote:I have one and I've found that it's pretty useful for collecting Cerambycidae and Buprestidae. You just have to be ready to move quickly otherwise they may try to fly off. It's a relatively easy way to collect a nice series and it takes less time than trying to just look. Probably a relatively decent way to collect cryptic species too. Something that holds on well though likely won't fall unless you get a really good whack on the branch/foliage.

Yeah I have seen them used a lot by entomologists and such, but never tried one myself. I will see if I can build one and then post on here about my findings on it later.

I am interested in catching the two beetle families mentioned. Where do you collect them from? What type of tree?

I have never seen jewel beetles in Canada. What type of tree do you use?

I have only gotten emerald ash borers Lol!

I catch emerald ash borers by hand. Never actually seen them on ash

mothman27 wrote:I am interested in catching the two beetle families mentioned. Where do you collect them from? What type of tree?

I collect them in forested areas and I really just knock on any type of tree that catches my attention. You'll want to look for trees that appear stressed, dying, or even dead. I don't usually search for any tree species in particular unless I'm going for a specific beetle species.

If you're ever interested, I have a good number of Illinois species in my collection and am always willing to trade! We will probably have quite a bit of overlap since we're in neighboring states, but you never know! I have yet to catch any Illinois Buprestis, so I'm hoping this next summer will be the one.

Canadian anter wrote:I have never seen jewel beetles in Canada. What type of tree do you use?

There are actually a pretty good variety of jewel beetles in Canada, but it just comes down to searching in the right places. I believe most species will be in the genus Agrilus which tend to be pretty small and more difficult to find. I beat or sweep any trees that look stressed, dead, or are dying.


One final thing I'll note, it's possible to catch both families if you find large fallen trees a couple days after a storm, especially if it's sunny. If you're near a lumberyard and get permission, you can sometimes walk through and check trees for beetles. Fresher trees will always yield more because they're emitting more volatile compounds the beetles are homing in on.

Here's a great resource for jewel beetles (and it's free now!). Some of the info may be a bit dated, but it's a phenomenal starting resource.

http://www.biodiversityinfocus.com/pdfs/Jewel_Beetle_Field_Guide_English.pdf

oh thanks. Agrilus biguttatus is extremely common here during the late summer months