Beetle marking project in Keizer, Oregon, USA

Nature Talk
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image image
The beetle on the right is not Carabidae

Hey everyone!
This is for anyone who is in Keizer, Oregon, and likes looking for, or photographing beetles.
If you find any Carabidae in Keizer, Oregon, and they have a small chip* like in the images, please do not kill, collect, or try to remove the chip from their left elytron.
These chips are being used to track how far these beetles travel on average in this area, and are for a project of mine.

If any beetles with these chips are found, please take a dorsal photograph of it/them, then please send me the image(s) and location found in an email, then please release the beetle where you found it. Thank you all!

*-These chips are all biodegradable, and will dissolve after approximately five(5) months without harming the beetle that it is attached to. I have tested how long they last using a group of beetles that I raised, in a terrarium with a very realistic habitat and conditions, and all the chips lasted around five months each before they dissolved. If the beetle that the chip is attached to is consumed by a predator, the chip will dissolve and will have no effect on the animal. All the chips are extremely thin, and all are made from a plant-based resin created on accident last November, I am trying to recreate the resin so that I can use it again i other projects in the future.

The targeted Carabidae species will be; Pterostichus melanarius, Carabus nemoralis, Harpalus pensylvanicus, and Anisodactylus binotatus.

Thank you to everyone who helped me accidentally make the resin, and who has been helping me apply these chips to these carabids to track them! I truly appreciate all your help.

Best regards,

Connor Graham

7 Likes
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Sounds like an interesting project! Though if you just made the resin last month, how have you tested it for five months breakdown in a terrarium?

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Using an Xacto knife and microscope, we managed to engrave various series of lines on the thin side of the chips so that we know which beetles traveled what distance. For example, the Pterostichus melanarius in the photo has four vertical lines on the short side of the chip that is closer to the beetle´s rear-end, which tells us that this one was the forth beetle of this species to be tagged so far.

As of today, myself and two of my friends(they prefer not to be named) have marked 12 Anisodactylus binotatus, 5 Harpalus pensylvanicus, 27 Pterostichus melanarius, and 3 Carabus nemoralis.

Peace out guys, I’ve got class soon! : )

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Oh, I didn’t realize that I said last month. Thanks for commenting @cthawley , I will correct that!
: )

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Sorry, for the mistake, I´m also trying to finish writing an essay, and I was using the keyboard for my computer which is connected to the essay doc. when I should have been typing on my laptop keyboard! I thought that I had retyped everything that I had messed up on here.

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This sounds like a very interesting project, but it also sounds like a super-villain origin story. Or maybe a super-hero origin story?

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Maybe I should get myself a spandex suit, grow antennae, and call myself the beetle lord…
: )

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