From February 20 to March 31, 2017, Mr. BAKUNDINDAVYI Ezéchiel, a student at the University of Burundi, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology in 3rd Baccalaureate, completed a training course at the Burundian Office for Environmental Protection under the supervision of Mr. CUBAHIRO Arnaud, Assistant Professor at the University of Burundi and Msc. NZIGIDAHERA Benoît from OBPE.

The work of this internship began with an exchange session and contact with the supervisors during which the internship objectives were defined as well as the implementation of work techniques. The objectives of this course were to arrange and label the beetles distributed in different entomological boxes; to find a systematic solution of these beetles in stocks according to the possible taxonomic level as well as to give the distribution of these beetles according to the environments of origin.

After making contact, the trainee first sorted the insects in the order of beetles from the other insects kept in the entomological boxes. These insects had previously been collected using the Yellow Jar Trap, the entomological net and the Malaise trap. Harvest areas included the Rusizi, Kibira and Ruvubu National Parks, and the Mageyo, Murehe and Bugabira agro-ecosystems. Then, the student put these beetles back into entomological boxes based on directly visible morphological criteria or grouping by morphospecies.

This arrangement of the beetles was followed by their identification using a microscope and a magnifying glass by considering their color, their size, the shape of the thorax as well as the length of the antennae. Books were consulted when identifying species, in particular that of Scholtz C. and Holm. E, 1986: “Insects of southern Africa”. The insects identified were all labelled by the intern. During this identification work, the intern was supported by Ms. NTAWUYANKIRA Neilla, researcher on pollinating insects at OBPE.