Chapter 54 - Collection and Preservation

Abstract

This chapter presents general habitats, collecting equipments, methods of collection and storage for the major insect orders and orders groupings needed for collection and preservation. Insects are prepared for study and storage in three basic ways: pinning, fluid storage, and mounting on microslides. Adult insects or the immature forms of hard-bodied insects such as those with incomplete metamorphosis are pinned through the thorax of the body, unless too tiny, and then they are mounted on card points. Insects that are too small, or the bodies of which are too brittle or soft, should not be pinned. They should be stored in glass vials in 70% ethyl alcohol (EtOH). Many tiny insects such as lice, fleas, and thrips can be stored in EtOH until such time as they can be made into permanent microslide mounts with Euparol, Canada balsam, or some other mounting medium. Once the specimen is ready, they can be pinned or spread and are placed inside the envelops. Storage of pinned and papered specimens must be in tight containers so that museum pests such as Dermestidae (carpet beetles) and booklice (Psocoptera) cannot get to them. These can also be repelled by fumigants such as naphthalene (moth flakes or moth balls), PDB (paradichlorobenzene), or dichlorvos-impregnated “strips” cut into blocks. However, the trend is away from museum fumigants because of possible health problems caused because of exposure to them. The better method is freezing.