Found these golden ground beetles tonight. I live in Maine so we typically don't get many shiny beetles so I thought these were pretty cool! I released them back into their nest (were probably 15 or 20 of them in an old compost bin)
Carabus auratus
- Thread starter the_cream_man
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Hisserdude
Dynastes
So pretty, wish Carabids were easier to breed! 
Thanks all, I have to ask... What's the consensus on the kill jar?
I returned these where I found them but was very tempted to take some to mount. Is collecting to mount generally frowned upon??
I returned these where I found them but was very tempted to take some to mount. Is collecting to mount generally frowned upon??
JKim
Mecynorrhina
I majored in entomology, and focused on scarab taxonomy. I kill thousands of insects for research annually. Yes, I always, and ALWAYS receive message about "why do you kill them?" I preserve them to study their morphological characters in the best-possible condition. Old and dying specimens with no characteristic features preserved, has less worth of studies. I study and publish my research to scientific journals to share the information I found with others.
Without biological taxonomy studied on any living things, NO FURTHER STUDIES can ever even be started. Our common sense of differentiating dogs to cats first started with taxonomy. Taxonomy is the very important and very first step in biological studies.
Killing jar is to kill insects in field, to avoid any potential damages to its specimen. It is to preserve it to the very best condition ever since the sampling occurred.
Let's say... you collected a butterfly, and kept it in a jar. Butterfly will flap their wings to escape until you take it home, and kill them. It will damage all their wings, and you may see broken pieces of wings on bottom of a jar. Do you think you can study based on the puzzle-like broken insect specimen? Possible, but very difficult to do so, as it is not man-made object. You may not be able to perfectly put pieces together.
Well, of course, I don't kill insects "just for fun." I don't even kill mosquitoes in my room. If they come in, I catch them and let it go outside. I don't just kill this and that insects. I only kill and preserve scarabs, and sometimes, I collect other insect groups for my colleagues in different regions. This is my scientist-viewpoint.
For collectors (who usually purchase, and avoid collecting himself), for artist, they all have different viewpoints. We can sometimes work together too, so I don't say a single thing about what they do.
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Thanks for the well thought out reply, I work in the field of science as well and definitely understand the importance of taxonomy and using a kill jar in that circumstance.
My interest in entomology though is more along the lines of being a hobbyist or artist though which is why I didn't feel particularly great about the idea of killing some beetles just to display them in my apartment. I'm not sure if there is a prevailing consensus on this in the beetle community when it comes to non-scientific collections!
JKim
Mecynorrhina
Fortunately enough, we don't only have rearer/breeders in this forum, we don't usually discuss about what is right and wrong. I don't think I've ever seen one. Also, many hobbyists these days eventually major in entomology or something related, so it seems the views on killing insects are becoming less difficult topic to being around us.
Goliathus
Pachnoda
The number of insects that die every day due to predation, parasites, disease, weather, and a multitude of other factors is incomprehensibly higher than any number of specimens that can ever be harvested by collectors (for scientific reasons, or any other reason). For insect populations, collecting is never the problem. The real problem, is HABITAT DESTRUCTION. Because of their high extremely high mortality rate, no insect species can afford to be "rare" or "uncommon", otherwise they simply couldn't survive. They get around this issue through their ability to breed in huge numbers, ensuring that at least some will always survive to adulthood and reproduce. Some species might be considered "rare" by collectors in the sense that they have quite limited geographic ranges, but within those ranges, they are usually locally abundant. There are a few (though quite rare) instances in which the collecting of certain, highly localized insect species needs to be regulated, or perhaps even prohibited, but ultimately, it is the conservation of habitats as a whole that truly matters. You can't protect one species, without also protecting all of the other links in the living system of which it is a part.
Thanks, I can totally understand where you're coming from with this.
I essentially live in Acadia national Park so I often think about if the millions of tourists who come up were to all do what I'm doing what it would be like. But your right that the reality is that me collecting a handful of beetles isn't going to make the smallest dent in local populations.
JunkaiWangisme
Tenebrio
Would you consider parting with some live specimens ever? I live in Michigan and would love to try to breed them.
Hisserdude
Dynastes
Not to mention the fact that this particular species isn't even native to the US, came in from Europe, I think as pest control for the invasive gypsy moths... The range of C.auratus has only been spreading, so there's little harm in taking some for dried specimens...
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