May 18, 2019

This morning we collected our pitfall traps, which we filled with either urine or water yesterday to answer some research questions. We wanted to know if there was greater arthropod diversity on the forest floor or in the canopy and if the forest floor or the canopy was more nitrogen-limited (urine is a great source of nitrogen in case you were wondering).

Once we got back to the research station, we did inventory on the beetles, ants, ticks, etc. that fell into our traps. The unknown species of large black beetle with the red outline around its thorax and abdomen was in several of our samples. This beetle seems to be a reoccurring theme in these posts, or perhaps he’s the beetle mascot of Las Cuevas. Either way, I’ll have to do some research to identify him once we have internet access.

During our hike to collect these traps, I came across my first net-winged beetle (from the genus Calopteron). The species I have on my taxon ID card is Calopteron discrepans. I think this beetle was a different species that I came across in my research, but I can’t remember the species name at the moment. Calopteron discrepans has multiple thick black bands on orange wings, while this species only had one faint black band.