Typing specimen labels for an entomological collection can be time intensive. I came up with my own system using Microsoft Word’s Mail Merge function that works pretty well and has saved me a lot of time. I’ve had some people ask how it works, so here’s how I make my labels, along with example files if you want to try it out for your own labels.
Last year, I tallied up all my myriapod collecting from 2021 and now it’s time to take a look back at 2022’s collecting! This was my first full year of having my homemade Berlese funnels up and running, and I was excited to see how the species I collected would change from season to season. For each Berlese sample, I typically left the litter in for 5-7 days with an 8-hour light/16-hour dark cycle (I didn’t want to leave the lights on when I was not at home). I also removed the top layer of dried out litter every few days and replaced it with moist litter that hadn’t been cycled through yet, mixing up the litter as I added in the new batch.
Centipedes are a rough group to identify in North America. The only well-known order, the Scolopendromorpha, was treated by Rowland Shelley in an excellent 2002 monograph (A synopsis of the North American centipedes of the order Scolopendromorpha (Chilopoda)). This was published by the Virginia Museum of Natural History, but is difficult to get ahold of today. (Contact me if you need the PDF, however.) It includes range maps, identification keys, and useful illustrations: a must-have for anyone interested in our centipede fauna.
North America's other two major orders, however, lack such an impressive resource. These are the Lithobiomorpha (stone centipedes) and the Geophilomorpha (the soil centipedes). Today I'll focus on a small section of the Lithobiomorpha, the genus Nadabius.
2021 is behind us, so it’s time to take a quick look and see what my Myriapoda collecting was like last year! I pulled together my stats from the specimen database I use to track my collection, and these numbers include millipedes (Diplopoda), centipedes (Chilopoda), symphylans (Symphyla), and pauropods (Pauropoda). Let’s dive in.
I recently decided to make a Berlese-Tullgren funnel so that I can collect more litter critters, particularly Myriapods. My typical collecting method is hand collecting with a claw to swipe back leaf litter and move logs, which has worked very well for finding large millipedes and centipedes. But the magic of the Berlese-Tullgren funnel is that it’s a passive method and can extract many more arthropods from a leaf litter sample than I can collect myself in the same period of time. Plus, it should extract specimens I would definitely miss by just hand collecting. Here’s a step by step guide for how to build your own Berlese-Tullgren funnel at home.
