You can earn up to ten points extra credit to add to your semester point total. These ten extra credit points can be earned in several ways, described below. All extra credit is due by the last day of the course.
Insect
Collection
Insects that are easily collected in the home or school environment are
worth one point extra credit. Please try
to collect different types/species of insects - a bag of German
cockroaches will be counted only as one species and given only one
point.
The best way to kill most insects humanely is to place them in a
container in the freezer and freeze them overnight. Virtually any
container will do - past students have used zip-loc bags, pop bottles,
prescription vials, film canisters, and tennis ball cans. Keep them frozen until you turn
them in (otherwise, thawed insects will rot). Small insects and
soft-bodied insects can be killed and preserved by placing them in 70%
ethanol. If ethanol is not available, you may substitute isopropanol
(rubbing alcohol) for short-term preservation.
Before you hand in your insects, you need to include information for
the label - your name, the date of collection, ecological data
(collected off an oak tree, windowsill, roommate's bathroom, etc.),
and the location of the collection. Just write it legibly on a piece
of paper or on the container. With this information, we can properly
label and include your insect in our teaching collection. We will
complete the rest of the curation process (pinning, labels, etc.) for
you.
Before you hand in your insects, you need to include information for the label -
your name, the date of collection, ecological data (collected off an oak tree,
windowsill, girlfriend’s bathroom, etc.), and the location of the collection.
Just write it legibly on a piece of paper or on the container.
With this information, we can properly label and include your insect in our teaching collection.
We will complete the rest of the curation process (pinning, labels, etc.) for you.
By the way, we will accept live insects if you are averse to killing them.
If, however, you plan to turn in live, agitated stinging hymenopterans,
please be extra-careful handling them and please also let us know what’s in the container before we open it!
Just hand in your extra credit to Liz anytime during the semester.
Liz will keep track of your points if you want to check your total during the semester.
As a final word, please don't violate laws on collecting and
importing insects!
Importation of insects, especially live insects, without a permit from
outside the United States is usually against the law and is strongly
discouraged. Interstate transport of live insects is also in violation
of USDA guidelines. Be careful, too, about where you collect
insects. When in doubt, get permission. As a general rule, do not
collect insects from parks, wildlife refuges, or forests without
permission from the authorities. If you are caught (especially
importing insects from overseas, on national park lands. or in
Florida), you may receive a heavy fine or even jail time! We are just
as willing to take insects from plain vanilla Chambana.