Officially known as the University of Central Florida Collection of Arthropods (UCFC), we are one of the largest completely databased collections in the world with over 575,000 specimen records for insects and other arthropods and more being added daily. Check out the Database and see what entomological wonders reside within Central Florida! We especially pride ourselves on our Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps) and Coleoptera (beetles) holdings.
Technically a pygmy mole cricket (Orthoptera: Tridactylidae) in (or near) the species Neotridactylus archboldi Deyrup & Eisner, these beasts spend most of their lives in subterranean burrows in dry sandy habitats, feeding on the layer of algae in the soil crusts a few millimetres below ground. They do come to the surface during the wet season after rains. For more info see Deyrup 2005
We collected this specimen in a pan trap in sandhill habitat at the fall 2018 bioblitz. This is noteworthy because these flightless orthopterans have until recently only been known from a few sites on the Lake Wales Ridge. This specimen represents a disjunct and probably genetically distinct population.
Perdita floridensis is a mining bee (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) found in the Southeast that is only out as an adult for about a month in mid-spring. As a juvenile it lives in nests in the sand below seasonal ponds where it is completely submerged under water for several months. To cope with this inundation, females coat pollen pellets in a water repellent substance when stocking their nests for their young, and larvae also secrete a water-repellent substance. For more info see Krombein et al. 2003
We collected this specimen in a Malaise trap in pine flatwoods habitat during the spring 2018 bioblitz.
