Amy Varsek, Coordinator Of Community Outreach, Chicago Academy Of Sciences

From 5′′ inch luna moths to beetles smaller than a pin head, the diversity of insects in Chicago is staggering! Insects make up more than half of all living things on earth and live in every habitat except the ocean. Even in our own backyards and neighborhood parks we can find an amazing number of different insects, if we look. And new insects are being described every year — even in Chicago! Maybe you’ll discover one in your backyard or neighborhood park!

• 24 oz. plastic container (deli-style)
  
• one 10′′ piece of string
  
• two 2 Liter plastic soda bottles
  
• trowel or other digging utensil
  
• scissors
  
• spoonful of ripened tuna fish
  
• duct tape
  
• an overripe banana

A carrion trap uses rotting meat to attract insects that feed on carcasses. These can be very effective, attracting beautiful beetles and flies.

• Let a heaping spoonful of tuna fish sit in a closed unrefrigerated plastic container for 2-3 days (the smellier the bait, the more insects you’ll collect!).
• Cut the top of one of the pop bottles, as shown.
• Insert the bottle top, upside down, into the plastic container.
• Duct tape around the pop bottle and container together (Now insects can fall in, but they have a hard time getting out.)
• Dig a small hole and place the trap inside. Make sure the edge of the tub is even with the ground. (Insects will fall inside the trap.)
• Put the ripened tuna fish inside the trap.
• Check your trap every day — other animals might steal your bait!

Cut the top of one of the pop bottles, as shown. Insert the bottle top, upside down, into the bottom of the bottle. Duct tape around the edges. Tape a string to the sides of the trap to make a handle. Put an overripe banana inside the trap and hang it outside.

In your journal, draw or paint pictures of the insects you find. Identify your insects using a field guide or at an insect collection in a museum.

• pollinate fruits and vegetables
• produce valuable products like honey and silk
• decompose dead organic matter
• are used in scientific heredity and genetic studies
• feed birds, fish, and mammals (they are at the bottom of many food chains).

Because insects have so many different roles in their ecosystems, we cannot catch all the different kinds of insects in one kind of trap. For example, if you wanted to catch a butterfly (a flying pollinator), you wouldn’t set up a carrion trap. To get a good idea of the biodiversity of insects in your neighborhood, try using as many collecting methods as possible. Also, collect insects at different times of the year and compare your results.

• Check carefully on leaves for leaf miners, insect skeletons, insects that roll up or chomp on leaves, and galls (“bumps” of swollen plant tissue that contain insects — they can be papery, warty, furry, woody, etc).
• Dig into leaf litter: soil, mulch, and rotting logs have all kinds of life.
• Spend some time at a pond (in spring, before the mosquitoes hatch!).
• Look under bark in winter to see how some insects survive the cold.
• Put a white sheet under a shrub and shake the shrub.

Leaf miners are insects that make tunnels between the two outer layers of a leaf. Their track through the leaf gets larger and larger as they eat and grow. If you look carefully, you can find the hole where they exited.