Novel uses for Citric Acid when collecting Coleoptera

摘要

It is well known that pyrethroids increase activity in invertebrates (Vijverberg & Bercken, 1990) and I have consistently observed this to occur rapidly after application. It was not until I had the pleasure of showing some friends around my local rocky shore habitats that I had the chance to observe the use of aerosol pyrethroids to coax beetles to move enough to be easily collected. Low doses of domestic knock-down insecticide sprayed over a substrate encouraged rapid movement of the otherwise sedentary beetles and I was impressed at the efficacy of the technique. This technique seemed fairly novel at the time and it struck me that the principle could be applied to a number of other habitats. I set to work with thoughts of thin films of water (madicolous habitats) and other situations where species can be reticent to move. With madicolous habitats in mind I rapidly concluded that the use of pyrethroid sprays would be unacceptably toxic given the standard warnings accompanying the spray cans and the aquatic toxicology detailed.