Entomology B/C

[humanbeingofearth548]

Are you allowed to tape other pieces of paper into the field guide? I'm not sure if this falls under "annotate."

I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to do that. Maybe you are, but I haven't seen any other teams do anything like that. But just to be safe, don't do it.

[Edward]

All right then. Thanks!

[humanbeingofearth548]

So this question goes out to all of you awesome people who have competed at nats and/or a lot of invites. Are there any orders or families that show up a lot or more frequently than other ones? Are there any that you have never seen on a test?

Well, obviously, ID is VERY important. I'm guessing that beetles can be pretty important, but I'm just going to say, STUDY EVERYTHING. I haven't seen much of Protura, Collembola, Diplura, or Ephemeroptera, but they can pop up anytime. To me, the important ones are the ones with big families, like Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera. BUT REMEMBER..BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING!

[Panda Weasley]

So this question goes out to all of you awesome people who have competed at nats and/or a lot of invites. Are there any orders or families that show up a lot or more frequently than other ones? Are there any that you have never seen on a test?

Well, let's see. The whole Lepidoptera-Sesiidae trick question was on every test I took last year (it's a moth that looks like a bee).
Also, Dactylopiidae showed up a lot. In my opinion, that's one of the families that if you know, it's SUPER easy to ID. If you don't, you'll just be sitting there going "Wait, that's an insect?"
Lastly, i think the 4 ametabolous orders (Protura, Thysanura, Collembola, Diplura)came up a lot, along with Grylloblattodea for some reason.

So this question goes out to all of you awesome people who have competed at nats and/or a lot of invites. Are there any orders or families that show up a lot or more frequently than other ones? Are there any that you have never seen on a test?

Well, obviously, ID is VERY important. I'm guessing that beetles can be pretty important, but I'm just going to say, STUDY EVERYTHING. I haven't seen much of Protura, Collembola, Diplura, or Ephemeroptera, but they can pop up anytime. To me, the important ones are the ones with big families, like Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera. BUT REMEMBER..BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING!

Thanks for responding! I ask this because I had this event last year and there were some specimens I remember never getting any questions about, and orders that were very common (like Coleoptera) that showed up a lot. I was just wondering if other people had similar experiences at competition.

[6nusher]

Are they actually going to ask us for the common name of specific insects? And, if so, are they going to be ones that we can use the Audobon guide to identify or are they just going to be random insects?

[SOnerd]

Are they actually going to ask us for the common name of specific insects? And, if so, are they going to be ones that we can use the Audobon guide to identify or are they just going to be random insects?

They're from the list when they ask common name (they should be)
So if a specimen is from Gomphidar, and it asks for common name, the answer is clubtails.

[6nusher]

OK, thanks, SONerd. And does the dichotomous key have to refer to things we can see on the insect or things that we actually know (like the insect is red as opposed to the insect having elytra?)

[SOnerd]

OK, thanks, SONerd. And does the dichotomous key have to refer to things we can see on the insect or things that we actually know (like the insect is red as opposed to the insect having elytra?)

Hmmm.. It can be both (I think), but I usually go with the "fancier" of the two. So in the situation you described, it would be the elytra.

[Panda Weasley]

Are they actually going to ask us for the common name of specific insects? And, if so, are they going to be ones that we can use the Audobon guide to identify or are they just going to be random insects?

They're from the list when they ask common name (they should be)
So if a specimen is from Gomphidar, and it asks for common name, the answer is clubtails.

Aren't they all supposed to be from the list though?

[6nusher]

I'm pretty sure they are all going to be from the list, but I've heard stories where they've asked for a species' common name, so I just wanted to ask. And I'm having trouble telling Odonata larvae apart. Does anyone know a website that explains this?