Sweepstakes: Unveiling the Wonders (and Stings!) of Sweep Netting – Issue #107

Hello Explorer,
Over this weekend I took what many might call the lazy approach to finding cool insects and invertebrates. For me, it is still one of the most exciting things to do.
Entomologists use a wide range of methods to collect their study specimens, ranging from very specific to very general collecting methods. Each of the collection methods has its own benefits and disadvantages, and each is designed or set up for a specific use case. Within the collection methods there are active and passive collection methods. Active methods are when you physically go out to collect the insects, whereas passive collection methods can include traps, attraction, and any method or piece of equipment you set out to catch the insects that you can go and collect them later. The lines do get blurred a lot between active and passive collection, as some passive collection methods can be used for passive collection as well.
Both active and passive collection methods can then be split into selective and non-selective collections. Selective active collection would be something like catching butterflies with a net and selective passive collection would be a dung baited pitfall trap to specifically trap dung beetles. Non-selective passive collection on the other hand would be an unbaited pitfall trap that catches all the invertebrates that accidentally wonders into the trap. Non-selective active collections include sweep netting, bush beating, and leaf litter sifting.

The challenge with non-selective active collections, however, is that they can be selective collections as well. Let us use the example of sweep netting. Sweep netting is literally as simple as sweeping an insect net through the vegetation, which can be grass, flowers, the edges of trees, small shrubs, etc. If you take all the invertebrates that are caught in your net and throw them into a collection jar it would be non-selective collection, whereas if you were to do the net dive – stick yourself into the net opening to prevent any bugs from escaping – and you pick out and only take the species you are looking for and afterwards releasing the rest of the critters in your net it would be seen as a selective active collection.
This weekend I used sweep netting somewhere halfway between selective and non-selective, as I had some specific species that I was looking for, but I also collected a bunch of other very cool species, because I had them in the net.
Many people would say that this is a very lazy collection method as you only walk through the field sweeping the net and not actively looking for the species you want, but for me it is one of the most exciting things there is to do. You see you NEVER know what cool insect, or other invertebrates might end up in your net.
Diving into the net is always a very exciting and often an instant adrenaline kick. The exciting part is the fact that you might and likely will have something in the net that you have never seen before in your life, the adrenaline kick coming from the wasps or bees in you net that force you to decide if you’re going to commit, take a sting or six, and make sure nothing escapes. The other option is that you’re going to back down and wait for the wasps and bees to fly off, potentially also letting some of the coolest catches also escape. If you know me, you know that I’m much keener for option one to ensure I get that cool insect or spider! Yes, I did get stung a few times this weekend, but it was worth it!

With this weekend’s sweep netting we were looking for specific mantid species to photograph, and the sweep netting did not disappoint. Not only did we get some very pretty mantids, but we also got some really cool jumping spiders, grasshoppers and even saw a few stalk-eyed flies.
The funny thing about this weekends bug hunt is that the species that was at the top of my list I found by spotting it while driving around and not through sweep netting.
Would you like to learn more about the collection methods used by Entomologists? Can you think of some specific use cases for both selective and non-selective collection? What is the worst sting you have got? What is the story behind you getting stung?

If you would like to send me a message with your answers, feel free to do so on Instagram or Twitter @abugmanslife or via email to [email protected].