preserving insects

[pkij]

Our senior biology class assignment this term was an insect collection. I now have lots of insects pinned to styrofoam hanging around the prep room. Some of the specimens are quite good, including a huge cicada, and I would like to keep these and/or preserve them.
I am not sure whether to preserve them further into metho/water or just to keep them pinned. Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to go about this, and how long they might last etc.
Thanks

[macca]

Our kids did the same thing a few years ago. I had a heap of old glass peri dishes, so with PVA glue I stuck them down, then glued the lid down it dry clear. Numbered + laminated sheet describing each insect in detail. Year 7 use them now mostly. They can't shake or pull them apart. Spiders are really neat, if you catch them alive put them in a jar in the freezer. Till dead, as they are thawing out you can gently put them in any position you want, glue them down but do not seal for a couple of week till they have dried out a bit.

Good Luck

[bindi]

With insects once they are dry you cant 'pickle' them.
If they are pinned out then leave them that way as they are delicate
You can make a display board of inscect classification and then use them for Y7 'making a key', classification
Flys/beetles/butterfies etc.
Great for open days..'Bug Board'

[smiley]

One thousand years ago, when I worked for CSIRO Entolmology during my holidays from TAFE, we used to prepare display boxes for bugs. It is very important to include some napthalene somewhere in your petrie dish, display box etc. We used to make a kind of shadow box, with a glass front, similar to the ones you can buy with insects already in them. They were mostly about 5cm deep, and we'd put our piece of styrofoam in it with the bugs pinned out. Then we'd carefully melt napthalene flakes and pour a line of it along the bottom of the box. The napthalene stops tiny mites or even ants from eating your display, and aids in the preservation of the specimens.

SO if you're storing your bugs in petrie dishes or whatever, at least add some napthalene flakes or a bit of mothball. Obviously this only works in a closed display system. Hope that helps.