A few weeks ago, Mustard and I joined an expedition with a couple of other PhD students. The mission? Hunt for wasps and bees, set some traps and check out some places we'd never been. We didn't have any luck that day, although our colleague who studies wasps that parasitise bees did find some great specimens. We'll see if he can tell us all about them in a post soon!
This weekend I headed back down to check the traps, Mustard and my self-proclaimed support crew (my adventure-keen parents) in tow. It was a three hour drive to Wirrabara State Forrest at the southern end of the Flinders Rangers in South Australia, and unfortunately there wasn't much in our trap there.
This weekend I headed back down to check the traps, Mustard and my self-proclaimed support crew (my adventure-keen parents) in tow. It was a three hour drive to Wirrabara State Forrest at the southern end of the Flinders Rangers in South Australia, and unfortunately there wasn't much in our trap there.
Not to be disheartened, we continued on to Mt Remarkable National Park. This place is beautiful, and I'd highly recommend a visit if you ever find yourself driving the rather boring piece of highway between Adelaide and Port Augusta!
We made friends with a massive goanna (and by made friends, I mean stayed well back whilst it plodded along then climbed up a gum tree) and check out our malaise trap. Unfortunately somehow the trap had been knocked over, and the bottle that normally catches the insects was unscrewed and empty.
Malaise traps are basically a big netted tent. As insects are flying along above the ground, they don't notice the inner black netting and crash into it. An insect will then naturally climb upwards. Unfortunately for the insect, the highest part of the trap is a bottle of ethanol. However, malaise traps don't work very well when they're flat on the ground!
Malaise traps are basically a big netted tent. As insects are flying along above the ground, they don't notice the inner black netting and crash into it. An insect will then naturally climb upwards. Unfortunately for the insect, the highest part of the trap is a bottle of ethanol. However, malaise traps don't work very well when they're flat on the ground!
There wasn't much we could do but make a sad face, stand the trap back up and hope that when we visit next month it still be standing and full of wasps!
We didn't find any wasps for our project this field work trip, but we did eat an awesome pasty at the Port Wakefield Bakery and we had a fun walk in Mt Remarkable National Park. We'll have better luck next time, I'm sure!
RSS Feed
