every entomologist needs a plant press

[Doug Yanega]

John Nelson <NELSON at CLS.BIOL.SC.EDU> wrote:
>
>    It seems that this would be yet another example of the absolute
>importance of making herbarium specimens, whenever possible.
>I'm not sure about this: do entomologists tend to collect voucher
>material of the hosts of the insects they are studying?

As a bee researcher, plant IDs are pretty routinely part of the process of
collection, but generally it's sufficient if one knows the genus, so rarely
will I collect a voucher (and even then, just enough of a sample to show to
a botanist and get a name) or take a photo. Of course, if one is working
abroad this becomes *much* more difficult - the restrictions on
import/export of plant material are VERY different from those pertaining to
dead insects, and I don't know many entomologists willing to jump through
the hoops necessary to get permission to bring back plant material. I'd bet
it's more common to simply get a botanist to go along on the expedition...