Insect Holder Technical field

[0001] This invention relates to an insect holder for holding an insect such as a bee used for the detection of at least one specific target odour.

Disclosure of the invention

[0002] According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an insect holder for holding an insect of a particular type, the holder comprising a body with a chamber adapted to receive the insect and a head restraint for retaining the head of the insect in a predetermined position, wherein the body further comprises a heating element to maintain the insect above a predetermined temperature.

[0003] Preferably, the heating element is integrated to the body of the holder.

[0004] The heating element may comprise at least one resistive element, voltage means and voltage variance means.

[0005] The insect holder may further comprise a temperature sensor.

[0006] The body may have a first part and a second part, the first part comprising the chamber and the second part comprising the heating element.

[0007] According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an odour detecting device for use with at least one insect holder in accordance with the first aspect of the invention, comprising means for detecting a response of the insect in the holder to a target odour and connection means for attaching the insect holder.

Brief description of the drawings

[0008] The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings of which;

[0009] Figure 1 is a schematic side view of an insect holder according to the invention; Figure 2 is a cut away front view of the holder of Figure 1 , seen from the right hand side; and

Figure 3 is a schematic side view of the insect holder of Figure 1 in use with a transmitter, forming hence an odour detecting device. Mode(s) for carrying out the invention

[0010] With reference to the Figures 1 to 3, there is shown an insect holder 1 made from a one piece plastic moulding. The insect holder has a box like form body. The body of the holder comprises two parts; an upper part 16 and a lower part 17. The upper part comprises a housing section 2 having a chamber 3. The housing has an opening at one end defining an inlet 4 to the chamber through which an insect 5, such as a forager honey bee, is to be inserted into the chamber (as will be further explained in details) and an opening at the other end defining a head opening 6 for the bee. The housing 2 comprises a head restraint 7 to trap the bee in a predetermined position, for instance as known from US7036454 and as disclosed in Batson et al, Journal of Comparative Psychology, 1992, VoI 106, No 2, 114-119; Shafir et al, Animal Behaviour, 1999, 57, 1055-1061 ; Buckbee et al, Journal of Insect Behaviour, VoI 10, No 4, 1997, 479-491 and Abramson et al, J Entomol. Sci. VoI 36, No 1 (2001 ), in which the head of the bee is visible so that observations can be made on the bee head, (e.g. monitoring proboscis extension in known manner in response to a target odour).

[0011] The head restraint 7 comprises a flexible tongue having a barb at its free end arranged to engage with the back of the insect's head so that the head of the insect protrudes through the head opening 6 as shown in Figure 1 and prevents the bee from leaving the chamber 3 via the inlet.

[0012] The lower body part of the holder comprises a recess defined by a front wall, and opposing side walls. The front wall 8 is provided with an aperture 9 opening into a recess 10 of the lower part of the body. At one end of the aperture 9 is mounted a receiver 11 , such as an electromagnetic radiation receiver, preferably an infra-red phototransistor, in such a way that the receiver 11 closes the aperture 9.

[0013] As shown in Figure 3, the electromagnetic radiation receiver 8 is associated, in use with an electromagnetic radiation transmitter 12, such as an infrared light emitting diode (LED). The receiver and transmitter form a monitoring system. The transmitter 12 is located outside the holder and produces a constant beam across the aperture 9 onto the receiver 11.

[0014] The aperture 9 and the receiver 11 are located within the body in such a way that any extension of the proboscis of the bee interrupts the beam produced by the transmitter 12. In other words the aperture 9 is arranged such as any extension of the proboscis of the bee reaches at least the major part of the aperture 9.

[0015] In use, the transmitter 12 produces a constant beam onto the receiver, when the bee responds to the presence of a target odour, the bee extends its proboscis which causes the beam transmitted to be at least partially interrupted. Accordingly the presence/absence of a Proboscis Extension Reflex (PER) of the bee in the beam may be monitored based on the intensity of the beam detected by the receiver 11. The electromagnetic radiation transmitted and detected by the receiver can be, but is not limited to, visible, infrared and/or UV light.

[0016] As well as being used to detect the presence of a target odour the holder is also used for monitoring the vitality of the insect by detecting movement of part of the insect. For example movement of a bee's antennae can lead to changes in the reading by the receiver 11. The changes in reading by the receiver 11 caused by movements of the antennae are generally of a lower amplitude and/or shorter time scale than that caused by the PER. Therefore the two distinct effects can be distinguished from each other. The detection of antennae movement shows that the bee is still alive. If prolonged absence of antennae movement is detected, initiates a warning signal is sent to the end user that the bee in that particular holder is dead.

[0017] Located in the recess 10, the holder further includes a heating element 13. The heating element 13 comprises at least one resistive element. In this example two resistive elements which are located adjacent to the bottom surface of the chamber. The heating element 13 also comprises means for providing a voltage in the resistive element and means for increasing the voltage so as to increase or decrease the temperature of the resistive elements. The heating element 13 raises the temperature of the surfaces which the insect is in contact with in the chamber so that the bee can be kept at its working temperature, i.e. above approximately 15 ⁰ C.

[0018] The heating element 13 formed as part of (or integral) to the holder as described herein have the advantage of reducing the risk of contamination that may occur, for example, when blowing warm air around the housing environment such as described for example in US7237504.

[0019] The heating element 13 is preferably associated with a temperature sensor (not shown). The temperature sensor provides an indication of the temperature of the bottom surface of the chamber. An electronic control circuit integrated in the recess regulates the heat dissipated from the heating element so as to achieve a constant desired temperature.

[0020] Each temperature sensor of each insect holder detects the environmental conditions of each bee. If the temperature is considered to fall below a minimum temperature required for effective use of the bee, the voltage system in the resistive element is increased in the corresponding insect holder to heat up the contact surface of the holder, i.e. the bottom surface of the upper part, and maintain the bee at the required temperature.

[0021] In a variant of the present invention, the bee holder also comprises a storage device to store data such as a unique identification code which is relevant to the bee to be held. The data is stored in electronic form and data can be written, stored and read to the device. The storage device is preferably associated with a microcontroller and has a random-access-memory (RAM) which stores data to uniquely identify each insect holder and its history. For example, each individual holder is assigned a unique identification code before its first use. Using the identification code the history of each loaded bee can be traced from loading through conditioning, deployment and post-deployment unloading.

[0022] Additional data regarding the bee can also be stored within the storage device of each individual bee holder.

[0023] Examples of information that can be stored include date and time of capture; date and time of loading, colony identifier, date and time of conditioning regime, substances conditioned for, performance of the bee during conditioning, operator of the detecting device, location of use and/or any other useful information.

[0024] The information stored in the bee holder can be encrypted. This is useful to prevent tampering with the information.

[0025] The insect holder includes communication means to allow the holder to communicate with a remote unit, such as a computer, which can include a central database comprising further information about the bee. Examples of communication means which allow communication to and from the insect holder include direct galvanic contact, optical communication means, radio communication means etc.

[0026] It will be noted that the recess 10 is made water tight via a seal 14 at the opposite end of the aperture 9 to protect the above described components i.e. heating element, receiver, and/or storage device which are all connected to a printed circuit 15. The printed circuit forms the bottom surface of the recess 10. This allows the holder to be washed between detection cycles to minimise contamination of the holder from earlier detection cycles.

[0027] In use, the bee is inserted in the chamber through the opening in the housing. The bee is inserted manually or automatically. In automatic insertion the bee enters the housing via a loading tube that is inserted into the holder and maintains the head restraint 7 in an open position such that the head of the insect can protrude through the second opening 6 in the chamber 3. When the bee has fully entered the chamber and is in the correct position, the tube can be removed releasing the head restraint 7 to close over the insect and to trap the insect in the chamber so that the insects head protrudes from the chamber.

[0028] A plurality of insect holders can be secured together in a holding unit (not shown) or directly to the detection unit via connection means. The holding unit is then used with a detector unit. The detection unit comprises associated transmitters, and an associated air flow system and gas sample supply system. The holding unit is inserted into the detection unit. A gas sample to be tested is supplied to the insects via a sample injection system. [0029] The insect's response to the gas is monitored by the electromagnetic radiation sensors 11 in each insect holder. If the bee detects the target odour in the sample, a PER response is detected by the sensors due to the PER causing an interruption of the beam reaching each sensors from each transmitter 12.

[0030] The electronic components; i.e. heating device, transmitter, receiver and/or storage device are powered by an internal power supply, such as an internal battery located in the body of the insect holder. Alternatively the components can be powered by an external power source, the insect holder having connection means to connect the electronic components of the insect holder to the external power source. The detection unit can comprise the power supply.

[0031] Although the insect holder has been described by way of example with reference to a specific embodiment of the invention, various modifications or additions may be made without departing from the invention. For example, it will be appreciated that the electromagnetic radiation transmitter could be attached to the insect holder and formed part of the body of the holder. Alternatively the electromagnetic radiation transmitter is located within the insect holder and the electromagnetic radiation receiver is located outside the holder, to form the monitoring system. In a modification the two parts of the body may be arranged such that an upper part of the body of the insect holder may comprises the heating element and/or storage device and a lower part of the body may comprise the chamber. In a further modification the storage device is a passive storage device, such as bar code. The bar code containing information relevant to the insect such as a unique identification code specific to the insect in the holder. In another modification, the monitoring system as described above could be replaced by the monitoring system described in US7237504, using image analysis technique.