From March 7 to April 6, 2016, the student KEZIMANA Gloria Parfait from the University of Burundi, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Biology, in the 3rd Baccalaureate completed a training course at the Burundian Office for Environmental Protection (OBPE). This internship was supervised by Professor GASOGO Anastasia from the University of Burundi and Msc. NZIGIDAHERA Benoît from OBPE.

 

In accordance with the provisions governing the BMD system, especially in terms of integrating students into professional life, the University of Burundi organizes internships for finalist students in collaboration with both state and private institutions. It is in this same framework that this course was organized.

The internship began by making contact with the internship supervisors, during which the objectives of the internship were defined and working techniques were put in place. After this contact, the work continued by handling specimens preserved in jars containing alcohol. First, the intern checked whether or not the jars made available to her had labels indicating the date, location, harvesting method and the name of the collector.

 

Then, the trainee rinsed with alcohol and then removed what was not involved in the study using forceps. She placed the specimens on an absorbent pad so that the pad would absorb any moisture. The next step was pinning, where entomological pins of variable size were used depending on the size of the individual to be pinned.

 

We should leave 1cm above the specimen in order to facilitate handling then we brush the wings to spread them out. The specimens were left to dry on a polyethylene support for 24 hours. The pinning lasted 11 days, from 8 March to 18 March 2016. The period from 21 March to 23 March 2016 was devoted to the labelling of pinned specimens. The label includes the location, date, collection location, collection method, and the name of the collector.

From March 24 to March 28, 2016, specimens were grouped by morphospecies using a magnifying glass and a stereomicroscope by considering the various characteristic features. From March 30 to April 4, 2016, it was the identification using the reference specimens kept at the OBPE. To do this, books containing the keys to determination were used. The period from 4 April to 6 April concerned the registration of identified specimens.

 

On 29 March 2016, a field visit to Rusizi National Park in the Palmeraie sector was organized in order to learn sampling techniques. During this visit, several specimens were captured using the entomological net. These specimens were grouped and then identified using OBPE reference collections.

 

This one-month internship allowed the intern to become more immersed in knowledge about entomology and to better integrate into research on this taxonomic group.