Folsomia candida was the subject of tonights C.V.R.I.C Live Microscope Telecast.

Populations consist only of females, which reproduce by parthenogenesis. The globular white eggs take about one week to hatch at 21 °C (70 °F) and three weeks to reach maturity, having moulted five times. Development takes longer at lower temperatures. Adults continue to moult, doing so about 45 times during their lives, including shedding the lining of the midgut. They may live for 110 to 240 days, depending on the temperature, and each may lay about a thousand eggs. The diet consists mainly of the hyphae of fungi including grazing on root mycorrhizae.

Invertebrates living among the soil particles in underground habitats often experience raised levels of carbon dioxide, which tends to increase with depth. Researchers have found that the surface-dwelling springtail Allacma fusca can tolerate a 10% level of carbon dioxide for a few hours while in contrast, Folsomia candida, which lives deeper in the soil, can survive under the same conditions for more than six weeks.

Great News.

The C.V.R.I.C Courses and On-Line Programs are finally up and running for everyone.
Take a look at our Courses Page and see what we have available as we have a great selection of individual courses both on and off line.

Over the next few weeks, we plan to add several other unique options to the lists so stay tuned...

Our Ecology and Identification of Ants of the Macedon Ranges Course is fast approaching and will commence on October 8th. Now is the time to enroll in this specialised certificate course via the Woodend Neighbourhood House. Topics to be covered during this 6 week course will include Ant Evolution and the fossil record, the work of E.O.Wilson, Reproduction and Nest Establishment, the Ant Castes, Methods of Collecting and Preservation as well as the Identification of the major Ant Sub-Families. Hope to see you there.

Every Monday evenings commencing at 8:00 Pm, the C.V.R.I.C conducts a 'Live Microscope' microcast on our public 'Zoom' Channel. Each week, we feature either one of our live cultures or an interesting specimen from our entomological collections for viewers to observe live and enjoy. Someone is always available to answer your questions as to whats being observed under our microscope during the microcast. Zoom Meeting Details on how to connect to the room are:

C.V.R.I.C Live Microscope Meeting Room ID: 238 318 4250
C.V.R.I.C Live Microscope Meeting Room Passcode: tBH02r

Dont have Zoom? You can Download it from here: Zoom Download Page

FANTASTIC NEWS!!:

Australian Entomological Supplies PTY LTD has kindly offered to support our Junior Entomology (Insect) Club by providing student storage boxes, insect pins, pinning boards and numerous other items as well as offering our students a 10% discount on items they may wish to purchase. A huge thank you to AES for such amazing support. They are now our Official C.V.R.I.C Junior Entomology (Insect) Club Sponsors and we look forward to a long association with them.
More information is available on our couses and blog pages.

Meet the Anthrenus Museum Beetle.

A member of the Entomological Collections Network contacted us recently regarding how we can use our existing MS Access Database with a web based interface. Many people advised us to use other, more sofisticated software applications such as Specify 6 or 7, however we decided that that option was far too much overkill for our needs.
So the C.V.R.I.C is now looking into the possibility of making all our collection data publicly available to everyone. Lets keep our fingers crossed and hope we can get this up and running.

The C.V.R.I.C has now finalized the courses program for 2021/2022 and is now accepting enrollments for the Ecology and Identification of Ants of the Macedon Ranges Course in early October. As dates are slotted in, enrollments will come on line for registrations and we will update the Courses Page accordingly.
We have also had a great response from many parents regarding our Junior Entomology (Insect) Club and we look forward to working along side our budding young entomologists later this year!
Of special note is our 2022 C.V.R.I.C Entomological Technicians Course which offers a unique opportunity for participants to gain valuable skills in the preparation of entomological specimens to a stage where they are ready for scientific study. 

 After working with our ant collections since early April this year, we are starting to really get to know them well!

Imagine Trying To Pin This!!