Development of an insect sample fractionizer for biodiversity research

We describe a new mechanical tool for dividing mixed insects and other invertebrate samples into subsamples. The device enables the division to equal parts by means of a movable hemispherical bowl and a separating disc. Due to the complete stainless steel manufacturing, the sample divider is sterilizable by using chemicals or heating and thus suitable for DNA-based methods. The production of equally sized subsamples is of particular importance for biodiversity studies today, especially when using metabarcoding combined with insect homogenisation for species determination of mixed insect samples. The device allows sub-samples to be analyzed separately using the same or different methods, or getting archived for museal preservation and future research.