Office: Torrey Life Sciences room 473
E-mail: michael.mcaloon@uconn.edu
Phone: 486-5508
Office Hours: M&W 12-1 (or by appointment)

Course description:

An introduction to each Arthropod group covered will include ecological characterizations (habitat, trophic role, life history), current status of the North American fauna, entry points to the literature for these groups and specialized collecting methods. Students are encouraged to specialize on a "focal taxon" or ecological category that interests them.

Students will create a collection from which specimens will be chosen for the University Research Collection and the Teaching Collection. Students may retain any remaining specimens for their personal reference collection.

Required Texts (bring to each class and lab) :

Optional texts:

Grading:

• Mid-term quiz 10%

• Final exam 30%

• Personal collection/notebook 60%

Objectives/Purpose: As students in this course you will be concentrating on taxonomic classification, structural and behavioral adaptations of insects to various habitats, the associations between insects and plants and other animals. You will learn how to utilize several tools and collecting methods to collect different types of insects in various habitats. You will prepare identified and labeled specimens suitable for a museum collection.

As researchers in this course you will apply what you learn in the classroom to aid in the generation of potentially valuable data as well as providing biodiversity assessments. There are few experts who study biodiversity relative to the amount of research that must be conducted. There is an increasing trend for these experts to rely on "parataxonomists" (i.e. you) to collect and identify the life forms they encounter in the field.

Assigned readings: A handful of papers and selections from the texts relevant to this course are required readings listed in the syllabus. Readings from the texts need not be read in great detail, however, do read the assigned papers carefully. These should be read either before or soon after the date listed. Readings not from your texts can be found in the 3rd floor Ecology Office green filing cabinet (drawer above bottom drawer, opposite FAX machine). Two copies of each are provided, one paperclipped for photocpying and one to borrow for 1-2 hours.

Laboratory: Some scheduling rearrangements might be necessary due to rain-outs of field trips, in general I will try to follow the syllabus. Many lab sessions will be held in the field, however, we must process what we catch so many lab sessions will be 'at-the-scope'.

Field trips: Be prepared for the field. General tips: no sandals, wear light-weight, light colored clothing (better to spot the ticks), long pants & short sleeves, sunscreen, bug repellent, and bring some sort of bag/pack to carry equipment/supplies (&water and snacks!). I will provide all the collecting equipment.

Mini Schedule:

• July 1: Introduction and Morphology lab

• July 3: Collections and Tools

• July 5: Arthropods and relatives

• July 8: Entognathans and Apterogota: Basal Hexapods

• July 10: Pterygota (winged insects) and Paleoptera (no wing folding)

• July 12: Day Trip

• July 15: Polyneoptera (Orthopteroids)

• July 17: Paraneoptera (True bugs, lice, etc.)

• July 19: Neuropterodea (Beetles, Lacewings, etc.)

• July 22: Flies, Fleas, Mecoptera [Midterm Quiz]

• July 24: Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)

• July 26: Hymenoptera

• July 29: TBA

• July 31: TBA

• Aug. 2: No class (work on collection)

• Aug. 5: Day trip

• Aug. 7: Collection check (work on collection)

• Aug. 9: Collection due [Final quiz]

Previous Course Web pages
Field Entomology 1998 (Derek S. Sikes)
Field Entomology 2001 (Michael A. Wall)