Biology 1114 Beetle Project

The two containers with vermiculite (A, C) will be the most time consuming to sort through. In these containers, most of the live material will likely be found near the bottom. All of these containers will contain many live beetles. The easiest life stage to recognize and find is the adult. Adult beetles are usually dark-colored, active, and they look like the figure above. The larvae are pupae pale are not as easy to locate and identify. They are pale and resemble small meal worms. Early instar larvae are tiny and easily overlooked. The pupae are also pale and are about the same size as the adult beetles but the pupae are mostly inactive. The only movable part of the pupa is its abdomen. Because larvae and pupae are not conspicuous, it is of the utmost importance to sort through only small amounts of material from the contains at a time. The first step is to visually examine the material from the containers. In order to do this, you will need a chemical scoop and a sorting tray. Use the scoop to deposit a small pile of material on the left side of your sorting tray. Next, use a small paintbrush to gradually move some of this material to the right in order to locate any live material. Always look for movement in the substrate you are examining. Once the material has been visually examined, it should then be re-examined under a dissecting scope. By doing this, you will likely encounter tiny larvae that were missed during your initial sort. You will need to keep track of all the adults, larvae, and pupae you find within a container. You may encounter dead adults during the sorting procedure. Simply add the number of dead adults to the number of live adults that you find.