Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Insects in Ohio

I'm working on my insect collection for my entomology class this semester. I have a fairly decent amount insects right now (about 50 or so), but I would still like to expand my collection. Unfortunately it's starting to get cold out, and a lot of the insects I was seeing a few weeks ago have disappeared.

Does anyone have any suggestions on places I could still go to look for insects?!

also
look in water. you can easily collect a couple dozen families in streams and ponds. They may be larval, but lots of good books for IDing aquatic immatures.

 
Cold air, warm sun
Terrific suggestions from Chuck and Kojun.

If your daytime schedule permits, try to get out in the early afternoon hours, like between 1:00 and 4:00, and you should be able to find a few bugs flying around. We've got clear skies for most of the week here, little to no haze and very light wind, so quite a few insects should be able to keep their body temperature well above the 50-60°F air temps. Supposed to be relatively warm on Wednesday.

With cool weather you'll likely find quite a few torpid insects inside the larger umbels of wild carrot. Most will contain the same species of beetle, but you should also find several species of wasps and flies. You'll also find many active jumping spiders and crab spiders hiding there. They won't hurt you.

Go deeper
Look under rocks. Peel back the top layer of leaves covering the soil. Pry the bark off of dead logs.

Although many species overwinter as eggs, quite a few just find shelter by going as deep as they can out of the freezing air and enter a sort of suspended animation.

Also, look for sheltered micro-climates:

It's warmer near water and on south-facing slopes. Cold air acts like water and drains downhill, so look in the middle of a slope, rather than at the bottom. An overhang of foliage or branches helps keep heat from radiating off at night, but shouldn't block the sun. In the same way, windbreaks that block the cold winds from the north are good, as long as nothing blocks cold air from draining away.

Good micro-climate conditions can be equivalent to hundreds of miles of in north-south distance.

 
Leaf litter
Hi Jacqueline,

I especially agree with Chuck's suggestion to go for the leaf litter. It's where many species overwinter.

Find a fallen tree (preferably on a slope) in the forest whose trunk is in contact with the ground and that has accumulations of forest litter around it. Grab the litter from where the tree and the ground make contact. Accumulations of forest litter can also be found in small natural depressions in the forest and in tree holes.

Run the collected material thru a Berlese funnel. I'm assuming you have access to these since you are in an Entomology class of some sort. If not, find a way to somehow sift the material. You should end up with more arthropods than you'll know what to do with.