Pitfall trap

A Barber pitfall trap

Trapping pit for small animals, such as insects, amphibians and reptiles.

- Pitfall trap

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Species richness

Number of different species represented in an ecological community, landscape or region.

Global mammal richness (2015)
Global amphibian richness (2015)

They can be, for example, trees found in an inventory plot, birds observed from a monitoring point, or beetles collected in a pitfall trap.

Meranoplus cryptomys

Malagasy species of ant in the genus Meranoplus.

Neither hand-collected workers nor nests have been collected; all known individuals are from Malaise or pitfall traps.

Meranoplus mayri

Malagasy species of ant in the genus Meranoplus.

This is the most frequently collected Malagasy Meranoplus, with numerous specimens captured in pitfalls, malaise traps, and hand collections.

Paratrechina zanjensis

African species of ant in the genus Paratrechina.

Very little is known about the natural history of Paratrechina zanjensis; the 23 specimens collected in the Mkuju River region of the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania were all found in 48-hour pitfall trap samples while none were found in the 40 Winkler-extracted leaf litter samples collected during daytime along the same transects.

Unicorn (spider)

Genus of goblin spiders (family Oonopidae) from South America, containing seven species that occur predominantly in high elevation, semi-desert regions of Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.

Male pedipalp of U. catleyi showing embolus, sub-basal hook, and translucent sclerite
Distribution of Unicorn species in South America

The spiders are hard to detect in the field, and most species have been collected by pitfall trapping.

Pitt Fall

Drop tower ride located at Kennywood amusement park in the Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.

Pitt Fall's yellow and black structure at night

The name of the ride was a pun on the word "pitfall", a type of booby trap, but spelled with two "t"'s as in an abbreviation of "Pittsburgh".

Propylene glycol

Viscous, colorless liquid, which is nearly odorless but possesses a faintly sweet taste.

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Propylene glycol is commonly used to de-ice aircraft
A bottle of flavored e-liquid for vaping shows propylene glycol as one of the main ingredients along with vegetable glycerin.
Propylene glycol is often used in electronic cigarettes.

For trapping and preserving insects (including as a DNA preservative).

Phosphorescence

Type of photoluminescence related to fluorescence.

Phosphorescent bird figure
Phosphorescent, europium-doped, strontium silicate-aluminate oxide powder under visible light, fluorescing/phosphorescing under long-wave UV light, and persistently phosphorescing in total darkness
Jablonski diagram of an energy scheme used to explain the difference between fluorescence and phosphorescence. The excitation of molecule A to its singlet excited state (1A*) may, after a short time between absorption and emission (fluorescence lifetime), return immediately to ground state, giving off a photon via fluorescence (decay time). However, sustained excitation is followed by intersystem crossing to the triplet state (3A) that relaxes to the ground state by phosphorescence with much longer decay times.
After an electron absorbs a photon of high energy, it may undergo vibrational relaxations and intersystem crossing to another spin state. Again the system relaxes vibrationally in the new spin state and eventually emits light by phosphorescence.
An extremely intense pulse of short-wave UV light in a flashtube produced this blue persistent-phosphorescence in the amorphous, fused silica envelope, lasting as long as 20 minutes after the 3.5 microsecond flash.
An electron microscope reveals vacancy defects in a crystalline lattice of molybdenum disulfide. The missing sulfur atoms leave dangling bonds between the molybdenum atoms, creating a trap in the empty spaces.
Phosphorescent elements of a wrist watch that had been exposed to bright light: clock face with twelve dots as well as minute and hour hand
thumb|Zinc sulfide (left) and strontium aluminate (right), in visible light, in darkness, and after 4 minutes in the dark.
thumb|Calcium sulfide (left) and metal-earth silicate (right) phosphoresce in red and blue respectively.
Before image of capturing a shadow on a phosphorescent wall.
After image of capturing a shadow on a phosphorescent wall.

A defect such as a missing atom (vacancy defect) can trap an electron like a pitfall, storing that electron's energy until released by a random spike of thermal (vibrational) energy.

Entomobryidae

Family of springtails characterised by having an enlarged fourth abdominal segment and a well-developed furcula.

Willowsia platani
Entomobrya albocincta

The scale-less Entomobryidae are commonly caught in pitfall traps around the planet, and also occur in canopy faunas high up in trees (notably Entomobrya nivalis, very common throughout Europe if not the Northern Hemisphere).

Pit River

Major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley.

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The Pit River before it enters the canyons west of Canby, Modoc County
Pit River impounded in Lake Britton, its second [Shasta is largest] largest reservoir
Upper Pit River near Alturas
Deer swimming in Shasta Lake
Pit River Falls, photographed by Cloudsley Rutter, c. 1904
Potem Falls

The Pit River is named for the pitfall traps the Achomawi dug to capture game that drank at the river.