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I am mainly a beetles collector and I went back to Panama again last June. My main interest are Scarabeoids beetles.
It was weird for the season because the rain wasn't there. Normally in June it is raining everyday...but not this year (probably because of ElNino).

Because of that collecting was different with overall less beetles than usual. Rain was more present at higher altitude, so we tried to collect there as much as possible.

Not completely a bad season....but it should have been better.

Here a few pictures of parts of the mounted material from that trip. Lots of identification remaining to be done.
All collected with the legal collecting permit.

Martin
Quebec, Canada
P.S. Looking forward to go to Juvisy next month

Nice catch! Were most of these collected at lights?

Please tell us how to get the collecting permit. Was an export permit also required?

Very nice preparation work on your material. Nice to see Coleoptera treated so well!

Amazing task !!

Very professional and a labor of love clearly....

alandmor wrote: Thu Aug 24, 2023 3:22 pm Nice catch! Were most of these collected at lights?

Yes, I use mercury lamp and UV lamp with a generator or a 1000A inverter on the car battery. Longs nights !

I also have small DEL lights on an interception trap to help collect all night long (with alcohol jar) for the smaller beetles. Those traps with DEL are installed at early evening (ideally higher in trees) and emptied the following morning. Everything collected that is under 10 mm is mostly still in the freezer. I will work on that next winter.
Other then that I will beat trees and shrubs during the day...when not sleeping

jellybean wrote: Thu Aug 24, 2023 9:36 pm Please tell us how to get the collecting permit. Was an export permit also required?

I have a letter of recommendation from the Museum I am affiliated with (Canadian Museum of Nature). You also need to have a contact from a researcher in a University in Panama that will help with papers. It is mandatory to be affiliated with someone from the country. No need for an exportation permit in Panama. However, I did have to get one in Ecuador last year (collect and exportation are not the same there).
Collecting in Panama without a permit is Ok if you stay out of the National park; I only had to show my permit a few times to the guards when I go inside parks.

What are DEL lights?

I did a search which turned up LED, is this just a typo?

Chuck wrote: Mon Aug 28, 2023 3:11 pm What are DEL lights?

I did a search which turned up LED, is this just a typo?

Oups!
Sorry it was a typo...you are right LED lights !