Discovering Beetles

Dates are being revised due to Covid-19

Come along and discover beetles on this weekend course where we will explore the world of beetles through their ecologies and by learning how to identify common beetle families. This course will also cover practical aspects of finding, identifying and recording beetles. The weekend will start with a workshop introducing this group of insects and focusing on their ecologies and life histories in the morning and then in the afternoon we will begin to look at the various families common to the UK. We will do this by looking at specimens of the different families with microscopes. I will provide a small synoptic teaching collection of beetle families for identification purposes and also non British collection so that people can see some of the diversity of beetles worldwide. In the afternoon there is the option to go out into the field to collect some beetles and learn about collecting methods. The second day we will continue with looking at the families in the workshop, with time to key out specimens using the British family key. An optional session on mounting techniques is possible for those who would like to learn or to continue looking at the specimens with the keys.

Tutor: Katy Potts

Katy Potts currently works at the Natural History Museum in London where she works on Beetles, having graduated with a first class degree in Conservation Biology at Plymouth University. Since then, she has been working at the Natural History Museum where she was one of the trainees on Identification Trainers for the Future project (www.nhm.ac.uk/take-part/identification-trainers-for-the-future) and is now curatorial assistant in the Coleoptera department where she is working on their African Project. Katy also ran a entomology project on a small Greek island for Operation Wallacea and Arcapelagos where she was lead entomologist.