Methods
An exchange with Sarah Smith
Several months ago, I started corresponding with Sarah Smith about scolytines and, as it turns out, scolytine workers come across cossonines on a routine basis. I asked Sarah to share with me some of her techiniques and tools. Here I share, with her consent, what she provided. Thanks Sarah for the information and for the cossonines!
- Lourdes Chamorro
“I've attached several images of collecting cossonines at Vitor Becker's Reserva Serra Bonita. I apologize that the images are a bit blurry. We did not have great lighting where we were working. One of the images is of the branch that I found them in. You can see that it has some leaves still attached to it and that they are dark brown to almost black. Many of the specimens had extensive galleries and had been in there quite awhile but other beetles were just starting their galleries. Note too that they seem to like twig and branch crotches.
If you will be excising the beetles from wood I suggest the following tools:
A very good pruning saw. Tropical hardwoods are very tough to get through. Felco is a great brand. We also really love the silky gomboy.
Anvil pruners. We've done cheap ones in the past but these work the best.
A good chisel. 1 inch wide is good.
A hatchet or hammer to pound on the chisel or to hack into the tree.
In general, if your branch is under 2 inches in diameter you should not need the chisel or the hatchet. Jiri [Hulcr] has a short video in which you can see some of the techniques.”
