Archbold Biological Station | Research, Conservation and Education

Arthropod Collecting Opportunities at the Archbold Biological Station

As a general rule, we encourage scientific collecting of arthropods at the Archbold Biological Station. The virtues of such collecting are:

It can lead to further information on arthropod diversity at the Station. The Station is one of the few places in North America where there has been a 50-year effort to identify the fauna of insects and spiders. Although it is commonly surmised that macro-arthropods are remarkably diverse everywhere, actual documentation of this is not easily obtained. In the future, as more sites are studied more intensively it will be possible to compare specific faunas, ants for example, or scarab beetles, from site to site to reveal detailed biogeographic patterns. Any collector can find new species for the Station, if only because certain groups, such as chloropid flies or pteromalid wasps, have never been surveyed. Sooner or later, one hopes, unidentified specimens will be seen by a taxonomist who can identify them.
Collecting is a highly educational activity, leading to insights in ecology and behavior of arthropods, combined with the thrill of the hunt. Eventually, when the beginning collector attempts to identify the catch, there is an abrupt realization of the practical implications of arthropod biodiversity.
Specialized collectors usually find new Station records in their area of specialization, sometimes finding undescribed species and often adding new species to the Station collection. Undescribed species are occasionally species that are restricted to the Lake Wales Ridge or to Florida scrub habitat, and it is useful to know about these for arthropod conservation.

The Archbold Biological Station does not require a permit for arthropod collecting, and there are no federally listed arthropods on the Station. There are, however, a few rules and guidelines.

Get staff permission for the collecting method.
Avoid excessive destruction of microhabitats.
Make sure you are not interfering with ongoing studies, including those in vertebrate ecology and plant ecology. Do not feed the scrub-jays, or walk in areas where there are numerous plant flags.
Even bugs deserve respect. When using trapping methods that kill large numbers of arthropods, archive the residues for future studies so the unwanted specimens will not have been killed for no reason.
We would appreciate a list of species that you have identified, or at least a list of species that are not on our current lists. We greatly appreciate identified, well-prepared specimens, and are particularly interested in species not represented in the Archbold Collection.