BIODIVERSITY PROSPECTING IN A CONSERVATION AREA OFCOSTA RICA.

Priscilla Hurtado Hernández.
Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Apdo. 21-3100 Sto. Domingo, Heredia,Costa Rica.

This project is part of the “International Co-operative BiodiversityGroups” and is focused on the tropical arthropods and insects of the GuanacasteConservation area in Costa Rica. The main objective of this project isto incorporate these organisms to the search of new pharmaceutical products.Insects have received little attention because of difficulties in theircollection and taxonomic identification, lack of natural history knowledgeand limited information on their pharmacology and chemical analysis. Thisproject seeks for the adequate scientific processes required for collectinginsects in the protected areas and conducting the corresponding biologicaland chemical analysis. The focus of this presentation is related to thefield activities, including collection of insects and recording relevantinformation in databases. Different collecting methods have been developedfor the fieldwork which allow collection of individuals of the same speciesand in the same life stage. The most frequently used collecting methodswere: light traps, insect breeding, pit fall traps and random collectionof insects. For each insect sample specific information was recorded, includingcollection site, taxonomic classification, natural history and biologicalrelationships among organisms which help to improve collecting strategiesbased on biorational leads. Taxonomic groups frequently collected includeLepidoptera (46.8%), Coleoptera (13.3%) Hymenoptera (13%), Orthoptera (12.6%)and other arthropods (27.3%). Life stages most collected are adult (52.4%),larva (15.9%), pupa (10.2%), frass (10.2%) and various stages (8.7%). Thiswork includes the participation of the National Institute of Biodiversity(INBio), the Research Institute of Bristol Myers Squibb, Guanacaste ConservationArea, Cornell University, University of Costa Rica and Walter Reed ArmyResearch Institute.