silaseckhardt
Silas Eckhardt
Unido: 14.mar.2021 Última actividad: 01.jun.2023 iNaturalist Canada
I'm a high schooler (Junior), based in central Virginia. I am an amateur entomologist with a mostly specific interest in beetles. I have recently also developed an interest in botany as well as mycology and other fields of natural history.
I have a beetle collection -- specimens -- which has been growing over the two and a half years. Currently it has ~215 species, and 460 specimens as of last count. Most of the stuff from 2020 and 2021 have not lasted as they did not have good data or were damaged, so most of the specimens that make up those numbers are from 2022 and 2023 (so far). In early 2022 I got re-inspired (my collection had gone stale), and I threw away all of the bugs with little to no data and missing appendages, etc. Dr. Arthur Evans came to my school to find some rare beetles I had seen there earlier. I saw his techniques, and many of them I'm still using now. This helped me revitalize my collection (also he helped me get my labels to where they are now), and has generously supported and helped me ever since I met him. He also helped me apply for (and win) the Youth Incentive Award (Coleopterists Society). This is going to fund a beetle survey for my school, any observations from 2023 for 8706 Quaker Lane, Bon Air are part of the survey. Large series will be collected, some (1-2 individuals per sp.) will be donated to the Virginia Museum of Natural History, some will be donated to my school, and the rest I will keep some of and send a few per species of buprestids to @pleocoma.
I do not usually take photos of insects live before pinning them, as this hasn't been very easy. I am saving up for a Nikon 5600 (DSLR), which should make it easier to do this. For the specimens I have a USB microscope.
My main habitat is deciduous and deciduoconiferous woodlands, especially my high school campus. However, I live in a city (North Church Hill, Richmond, VA), so it is interesting to see which bugs and plants thrive in this urban environment.
I have been trying to get better at identifying but I still make plenty of mistakes, so please give me a ping or a message (I check iNat a lot so I should see it). If you want to contact me but don't have an account my email is: silas.eckhardt@gmail.com.
