Our tray-type Berlese funnel is designed to let moisture evaporate naturally through the netting in the top compartment. It can rapidly extract soil-dwelling arthropods without requiring a heat source, especially when only a thin layer of leaf litter or humus is placed on the tray. This makes the tray-type Berlese funnel a very efficient tool for locations where there is no electricity. Because it is lightweight (320 grams) and the tray is stackable, many can be packed for field trips.
Each tray-type Berlese funnel consists of five parts: top, tray, funnel, connector, and collecting tube. The top compartment is of white Nylon netting (104 x 94 mesh/square inch) to permit light to enter and moisture to quickly evaporate.
The tray is of grey plastic and cut into grille to hold soil samples. The bottom funnel is of black, smooth Nylon cloth. The tube connector is of PE plastic and connects the funnel to a collecting tube. Each tray-type Berlese funnel comes with one Eppendorf tube (50 ml) for collection containers. When expected extraction amount is large, other containers (e.g. Whirl-Pak® sampling bag, NOT sold at the BugDorm Store) may be tied onto the connector.
The fast-release design of the tube connector permits cleaning of overlooked specimens from bottom opening.
Reference studies using this series of products:
Nomura & Aung (2020). Bull. Natl. Mus. Nat. Sci., Ser. A, 46(4), 203-213.
Linzmeier & Konstantinov (2020). Zootaxa, 4786(1), 1-22.