Beating sheets to collect specimens

Using a sweeper net comes in handy for capturing various specimens and feeders for mantids/etc. but I kept searching for something else and found out about beating sheets. Turns out it is one of the easier methods of finding walking sticks, and just about anything else, hidden on plant life; although, it doesn't seem to be a popular method.

A beating sheet can be made, or purchased, I of course made one myself. I never did find any instructions on making one, just basic information that most make them about 3' (1 m) squared, and have dowel rods or PVC pipe for the strength/support. I'll have to do a DIY guide later on making one - just don't go out and spend over $100 on a new sewing machine itself (then materials) like me for it (I make other things including my sweeper nets with it though too).

In the meantime - does anyone else use a beating sheet? If so what all have you discovered using it?

Besides the basic usage of catching things that fall from plants with it, there are other uses too - see the video here for a look at some of them and how to use a beating sheet.

Today I was able to put it to it's first trial usage outside (about two hours) around my city lot, here are some photos of the things I caught using it. I say some as many things that could fly take off before a photo was taken, I also didn't bother photographing the millions of ants and such, or the many dozens of identical species of spiders, stink bugs, and various things (I figured a few of each was enough).

Interesting enough I discovered it is a great method to get wild mantids too. I found three today (all pre-sub adults (Stagmomantis carolina) in the middle of September even), so I'm curious how many I can find in the early summer with the beating sheet.

Man, that's a gorgeous bunch of bugs! I've never used a beating sheet though I've held my heavy duty sweep net beneath beaten foliage before. Of course there are visibility issues to the net method. Your results seem pretty great!

The spider shots are my favorites, but the little bush cricket is adorable! I saw my first bush cricket when a friend in Arizona sent me one, recently. Yours is different though.

I collect in my yard almost every day (okay, multiple times per day EVERY day to be quite honest). When I lived 15 minutes away from here the bugs were totally different. The bugs I see here change every few weeks as successions of species change with and within the season. Your bugs are great to see because they are so different than what I see here. I NEVER get tired of seeing insect photos. 

Since it is included in the set of images, I'll be the first to bite. What is that trail of brown droplets? (Do I win a prize for asking?)

Peter Clausen said:

Man, that's a gorgeous bunch of bugs! I've never used a beating sheet though I've held my heavy duty sweep net beneath beaten foliage before. Of course there are visibility issues to the net method. Your results seem pretty great!

The spider shots are my favorites, but the little bush cricket is adorable! I saw my first bush cricket when a friend in Arizona sent me one, recently. Yours is different though.

I collect in my yard almost every day (okay, multiple times per day EVERY day to be quite honest). When I lived 15 minutes away from here the bugs were totally different. The bugs I see here change every few weeks as successions of species change with and within the season. Your bugs are great to see because they are so different than what I see here. I NEVER get tired of seeing insect photos. 

Since it is included in the set of images, I'll be the first to bite. What is that trail of brown droplets? (Do I win a prize for asking?)

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Thanks, it was some work especially playing with the photos. That was how I stumbled across the beating sheets myself, searching for better bechniques of beating foliage with my sweeper nets and the beating sheet was in the Google results.

I was curious what the little cricket was as I don't ever remember seeing one like that before. I took the photos and let her climb back onto the ivy growth she was hiding in originally. The spiders are great (I just wish they would hold still like the crab spiders for a photo), and I'll have to see if I can get some shots of the whooper sized wolf spiders that I come across when collecting pill bugs under the geodes around our flower beds.

I bet you do keep busy in your yard Sounds like I should have plenty of other things to find, as there are some really varied areas around here. Once I get something else interesting from the sheet I'll post more photos.

Ah, well the brown liquid I was hoping for an answer myself - the stink bug on the edge of the beating sheet in the photo above, sprayed it quickly before it flew off. I'm not sure if it was some form of protection (the stink of stink bugs maybe), urine, or what but thought it would be interesting to include with the stink bug shots. Incidentally it seems I have many of the "Brown Marmorated" variety.

Do you have any idea on the red beetle in the third photo? It played dead until I got a lid next to it then it hung on and refused to move.

The 1st and 6th spider I have seen in my house, gross bugs! I always wanted to, but did not have boots to keep slugs and things

from touching or attaching themselves to me in the wet night grass, I am a sissy. I do as Peter does, with a net in the day time.

hibiscusmile said:

The 1st and 6th spider I have seen in my house, gross bugs! I always wanted to, but did not have boots to keep slugs and things

from touching or attaching themselves to me in the wet night grass, I am a sissy. I do as Peter does, with a net in the day time.

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Yeah not everyone is a fan of spiders. I typically only see the common house or cellar spiders in the basement, and nothing else in the house. I do night collecting outside and just ignore the slugs, the little brown slugs and small snails are few, but we have tons of those leopard slugs. One night I stopped counting at 30 of them in the yard, usually in groups of two, about every foot.

The beating sheet so far I've only done in the daytime, the photos/sheet was in the evening. Although I am curious what else I can find at night too, and will do it eventually.

Very nice results, I've been tempted to make a beating net and using it on some of the shrubbery here, but unfortunately some health related issues have made it very difficult for me to go out in the warmer months to go collecting.

That bush cricket at the bottom is probably Hapithus agitator, the Restless Bush Cricket. Apparently they are mostly found from August to October, so right now is the perfect time to find them.

What type of trees or foliage did you beat to find the mantids? And those are some nice big sized (scary sized) spiders you found as well. I'm in love with that caterpillar though. Did you keep it?

The mantids were mostly on the ivy covering my carport area, but one was found on a random bush in the backyard. The spiders are only 1/2"-3/4" in size, those are just some close-ups with my Nikon DSLR.

The little caterpillar I put back on the leaves it was on so it will continue growing. I actually found several, I think many were the so-called bagworms though, but that one looked interesting so I took a photo.

I use a beat sheet quite a bit to catch cerambycids and buprestids. It's fun to see what else may drop down though! 

Your beetle is Labidomera clivicollis, the swamp milkweed beetle. The other little red guy is a species of true bug nymph, perhaps Oncopeltus fasciatus. 

Best sheets have proven to be quite effective and efficient for me 

Hisserdude said:

Very nice results, I've been tempted to make a beating net and using it on some of the shrubbery here, but unfortunately some health related issues have made it very difficult for me to go out in the warmer months to go collecting.

That bush cricket at the bottom is probably Hapithus agitator, the Restless Bush Cricket. Apparently they are mostly found from August to October, so right now is the perfect time to find them.

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Sorry I missed your post originally. Thanks, I made it too late in the season as when I had a chance to try many other areas than just my city yard most of the insect/bug/wild life was already dying off this year. So I'll have a head start for next season as it's ready to go.

It is unfortunate you can't get out collecting. If the sheet is the issue you could always make a much smaller version, perhaps go collecting for a limited time (or frequent breaks), or find a flat area that is more accessible. Of course depending on the issues not everything can be solved so easily.

Thanks for the ID, it does look like it. The large females I found had fully grown wings, but all the males didn't seem to have any wings (perhaps sub-adult nymphs?). I ended up finding 6 I think it was total around our ivy covered car port area/fence, usually just one at a time. I'm not sure if the species would be worthwhile trying to breed, but might be interesting itself as a pet. It is a very unique cricket for sure, and with the seemingly wingless males they would be quiet (but feeding plants year round would be a issue).

pannaking22 said:

I use a beat sheet quite a bit to catch cerambycids and buprestids. It's fun to see what else may drop down though! 

Your beetle is Labidomera clivicollis, the swamp milkweed beetle. The other little red guy is a species of true bug nymph, perhaps Oncopeltus fasciatus. 

Click to expand...

Very interesting beetles, do you catch them for a pinned collection, research, or what exactly? As you have specialized you have me curious.   The mantids suprised me for sure, but so did the luck of the draw using it. Sometimes I wouldn't have naything interesting, other times the sheet would be covered in dozens of things I had to try and collect as many as I could before they were gone.

That is the beetle, thanks!  That beetle had me stumped for sure, I just remember it would play dead when handled but would still grab on with it's feet. Indeed the other red are the milkweed bug nymphs, I cultured some last year for feeders but at the 2nd and 3rd generation they died off on me unexpectedly.

CosbyArt said:

Using a sweeper net comes in handy for capturing various specimens and feeders for mantids/etc. but I kept searching for something else and found out about beating sheets. Turns out it is one of the easier methods of finding walking sticks, and just about anything else, hidden on plant life; although, it doesn't seem to be a popular method.

A beating sheet can be made, or purchased, I of course made one myself. I never did find any instructions on making one, just basic information that most make them about 3' (1 m) squared, and have dowel rods or PVC pipe for the strength/support. I'll have to do a DIY guide later on making one - just don't go out and spend over $100 on a new sewing machine itself (then materials) like me for it (I make other things including my sweeper nets with it though too).

In the meantime - does anyone else use a beating sheet? If so what all have you discovered using it?

Besides the basic usage of catching things that fall from plants with it, there are other uses too - see the video here for a look at some of them and how to use a beating sheet.

Today I was able to put it to it's first trial usage outside (about two hours) around my city lot, here are some photos of the things I caught using it. I say some as many things that could fly take off before a photo was taken, I also didn't bother photographing the millions of ants and such, or the many dozens of identical species of spiders, stink bugs, and various things (I figured a few of each was enough).

Interesting enough I discovered it is a great method to get wild mantids too. I found three today (all pre-sub adults (Stagmomantis carolina) in the middle of September even), so I'm curious how many I can find in the early summer with the beating sheet.

...

Click to expand...

I think making one is the best way to go, I used half inch dowel rods that were 3 feet long made and x shape used paracord to bind them but of course as reinforcement i took super glue and applied it to the paracord, te paracord absorbed all of the glue and turned rock hard. I then cut the sheet and added it. All in all it was very cheap and turned out good. If you ever need help with the DIY guide l would be happy to help mabye you can get another point of view or a little different build design idea from me

I collect unicorn mantids with beating sheets they blend in so well it would take to long to spot each one so the beating sheet makes collecting easier. last summer I also used it for getting tons of phidippus jumping spiders 

CosbyArt said:

Very interesting beetles, do you catch them for a pinned collection, research, or what exactly? As you have specialized you have me curious.   The mantids suprised me for sure, but so did the luck of the draw using it. Sometimes I wouldn't have naything interesting, other times the sheet would be covered in dozens of things I had to try and collect as many as I could before they were gone.

That is the beetle, thanks! 

That beetle had me stumped for sure, I just remember it would play dead when handled but would still grab on with it's feet. Indeed the other red are the milkweed bug nymphs, I cultured some last year for feeders but at the 2nd and 3rd generation they died off on me unexpectedly.

Click to expand...

I catch them mostly for a pinned collection, but it's also to help figure out what species we have in Illinois. I've helped out the Hanks' lab at UIUC a few times by collecting cerambycids and bringing them in for research purposes. No one has looked at the buprestids of Illinois, so it's interesting to try to catch what I can and ID them to make a bit of a species list. That's always the challenge of the beat sheet since everything is trying to escape as quickly as possible. 

You're welcome, glad I was able to ID it! They're a fun beetle to come across. Great color/patterning and they're a good size too. 

spider_creations said:

I think making one is the best way to go, I used half inch dowel rods that were 3 feet long made and x shape used paracord to bind them but of course as reinforcement i took super glue and applied it to the paracord, te paracord absorbed all of the glue and turned rock hard. I then cut the sheet and added it. All in all it was very cheap and turned out good. If you ever need help with the DIY guide l would be happy to help mabye you can get another point of view or a little different build design idea from me

Click to expand...

Interesting take on your beating sheet, and likely holds up better than most. I went with the PVC so I could easily disassemble it to bleach the cloth back white as it stains, and to make storing it over the winter (or in a car) easier.

Nice concept of a dual DIY, but feel free to make your own DIY guide. I have so many personal/hobby projects going on now that I am not sure when I would have the time to start a article, if I had to guess it would be in late winter as the limited interest is from those already with one too.

spider_creations said:

I collect unicorn mantids with beating sheets they blend in so well it would take to long to spot each one so the beating sheet makes collecting easier. last summer I also used it for getting tons of phidippus jumping spiders 

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Sounds like a great use for one, and a rather uncommon species too. I found plenty of the Phidippus too thankfully, and near the end of our warm season I was finding dozens of tiny spiderlings even. I kept some and they have been molting fine and starting to get past the fruit fly stage. Although, my adult female (Phidippus) I got in June ended up hatching about 3 dozen little ones not long ago.

pannaking22 said:

I catch them mostly for a pinned collection, but it's also to help figure out what species we have in Illinois. I've helped out the Hanks' lab at UIUC a few times by collecting cerambycids and bringing them in for research purposes. No one has looked at the buprestids of Illinois, so it's interesting to try to catch what I can and ID them to make a bit of a species list. That's always the challenge of the beat sheet since everything is trying to escape as quickly as possible. 

You're welcome, glad I was able to ID it! They're a fun beetle to come across. Great color/patterning and they're a good size too. 

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Very nice, hopefully you got some credit for your efforts too. It sounds like a great start to a state specific guide/manual as well. I know I've looked up various guides before myself and it seems no matter the topic (mantids, moths, butterflies, etc)  they are always for states that are far from us in the mid-west to make it completely useless. If you have the time or patience for such a project, perhaps you could put a book together for Illinois.

It was a interesting find (much like the bush crickets) - things I have not seen before I used a beating sheet. It proved to me there are many other things I have missing even in my own backyard. I'm curious to see what else I will come across next season.

CosbyArt said:

Very nice, hopefully you got some credit for your efforts too. It sounds like a great start to a state specific guide/manual as well. I know I've looked up various guides before myself and it seems no matter the topic (mantids, moths, butterflies, etc)  they are always for states that are far from us in the mid-west to make it completely useless. If you have the time or patience for such a project, perhaps you could put a book together for Illinois.

It was a interesting find (much like the bush crickets) - things I have not seen before I used a beating sheet. It proved to me there are many other things I have missing even in my own backyard. I'm curious to see what else I will come across next season.

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One project at a time now since I'm currently working on a manual of grasshoppers of Illinois and guide to common ticks of Kenya   Fortunately there's already a cerambycid guide for Illinois, but for buprestids I've just been using the Buprestids of Eastern North America. Not a perfect resource and it's kind of dated now, but still very very nice to have as a starting point and I'm friends with a couple very knowledgeable buprestophiles, so that helps too! 

I've had a lot of nice surprises using the beating sheet too, so I'm sure you'll have lots of fun once things warm up again! Even in the fall you can get some weird stuff if you're knocking on the right tree. There's even a stark difference between live and dead trees for what you get. The tree could still be alive, but if it has a dead limb within reach you can find some oddities pretty easily. 

I have tried beating bushes before and have only found a few nymphs of stagmomantis floridensis in Tampa FL, Callimantis nymphs in Puerto Rico, and an adult male Acanthops centralis in Costa Rica(Spotted then hit into net.) I have found that sweep netting works by far the best for me. The thing about sweep netting is that if the technique or net is off it does not work very well for mantids. Also with sweep netting it is hard to get vegetation with any firm plants or sticks. I was talking to a mantodea researcher Dr. Julio Rivera about is success with bush beating a few days ago and he say it is really useful to him in desert-like or bushy areas like when he was collecting pseudostagmatoptera and orthoderella in some part of Brazil.

pannaking22 said:

One project at a time now since I'm currently working on a manual of grasshoppers of Illinois and guide to common ticks of Kenya   Fortunately there's already a cerambycid guide for Illinois, but for buprestids I've just been using the Buprestids of Eastern North America. Not a perfect resource and it's kind of dated now, but still very very nice to have as a starting point and I'm friends with a couple very knowledgeable buprestophiles, so that helps too! 

I've had a lot of nice surprises using the beating sheet too, so I'm sure you'll have lots of fun once things warm up again! Even in the fall you can get some weird stuff if you're knocking on the right tree. There's even a stark difference between live and dead trees for what you get. The tree could still be alive, but if it has a dead limb within reach you can find some oddities pretty easily. 

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Very nice, I had no idea you were already putting together some guides already. Great to hear there are some reference materials for your use to be found. Indeed the old guide books for "Eastern" US (typically 60's/70s) are the best I can find too, or the whole US but they seem to target southern states primarily in information. The only downfall is many things if listed for Virginia or such typically mean they are not to be found here in Indiana. I would imagine having such friends would really help in your identification, or to talk about your finds to (as I drive my wife nuts trying to talk about anything hobby related haha).

Speaking of those books it seems I had all the Golden Press guidebooks at some point as a kid.

I am looking forward to it. I can't stand the 6-letter word coming... winter... but with all my family here I am trying to get use to it; although, nearly 40 years and I still want to move to a more temperate location like the Pacific NW, the warm south states have advantages (but the crazy hurricanes and floods make me want to avoid them). Interesting that such a small change can provide such a different variety of species.

mantiseater said:

I have tried beating bushes before and have only found a few nymphs of stagmomantis floridensis in Tampa FL, Callimantis nymphs in Puerto Rico, and an adult male Acanthops centralis in Costa Rica(Spotted then hit into net.) I have found that sweep netting works by far the best for me. The thing about sweep netting is that if the technique or net is off it does not work very well for mantids. Also with sweep netting it is hard to get vegetation with any firm plants or sticks. I was talking to a mantodea researcher Dr. Julio Rivera about is success with bush beating a few days ago and he say it is really useful to him in desert-like or bushy areas like when he was collecting pseudostagmatoptera and orthoderella in some part of Brazil.

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I bet the nets do have some limited uses over a beating sheet, and thanks for the response.

For me though it was what lead me to keep searching for something better - from missing things falling or unable to get it right where I wanted, and breaking a few bought cheap ones (or poorly/cheaply made ones), I quit trying my sweeper nets.

The one use I have found where it is superior is in trying to collect specimens from higher up in trees and such. With some effort using the hoop to beat the limbs and quickly lowing/getting into position I have manged to get some specimens I'd never would have with a beating sheet.

Dang, nice finds!