About tenderness:

Insects collected from the wild often have to be stored for a period of time before being made into dry specimens, and their bodies are hard and brittle, so they must be softened before being made into specimens to avoid breaking and breaking. It is suggested that the softener is simple and convenient, and will not damage the specimen.

If the dryer is still soft, first spread wet fine sand on the bottom of the dryer, and then wrap the worm-covered triangular paper on the porcelain plate in the dryer. In order to prevent the specimen from moldy, drop a few drops of carbolic acid or formaldehyde solution on the sand surface, and finally cover it tightly. Insects can use a homemade softener in a jar, put a filter paper in the wet sand in the jar, and then put a triangular bag full of insects on the filter paper. If there are not many insects that need to be softened, you can also wrap a layer of moist pure land with triangular paper and cover it with a glass cover for softening. No matter what kind of container is used, it can make insects soft as ever for one or two days in summer and two or three days in winter.

About insect needles:

It is recommended to buy professional insect needles with five types and thicknesses. The thinnest needle is 1 and the thickest needle is No.5. The choice of needles depends on the size of the insect. The thick needle is used for large insects, the fine needle is used for small insects, and the No.3 needle is generally used for moths. Large moths, such as moths, use No.4 or No.5 needles. 1 or No.2 needle is used for blind stinkbug, leafhopper and moth. When an integer is used, it can be fixed with a pin.

About spreading wings:

Insects such as moths, butterflies, dragonflies and bees need to spread their wings after inserting needles. The wing plate for spreading wings is made of cork and is about 1 ft long. The battens on both sides are 3 inches wide and slightly inclined inward, and one of them can be moved to adjust the width of the joint between the plates. The bottom of the groove between the two plates is equipped with cork strips. When spreading the wings, insert the inserted specimen on the cork board at the bottom of the groove to make the gap in the middle fit the insect body, then insert a small insect needle on the thicker wing vein and pull the left and right front wings forward. Lepidoptera leans the trailing edge of its wings slightly forward. The top of the front wing of flies and bees is flush with the head. The front wing is temporarily fixed on the display board, and then the rear wing is pulled. The front edge of the moth's rear wing is pressed under the rear edge of the front wing, which is symmetrical and completely flattened. Finally, press it with a smooth paper strip, fix it with a pin, put it in a dry place, and take it off after the specimen is completely dried.

Tiny insects, such as rice planthoppers, rice weevils, parasitic bees, etc. , are generally made of triangle paper dispensing method. It is cut into small corner paper with a length of 5.5mm with cardboard, and a little white latex or all-purpose glue is stuck on the tip between the middle foot and the front foot of the insect body, and then an ordinary insect needle is inserted from the bottom of the small triangle to make it reach the same height as the insect. The tip of the triangle paper is on the left, and the front end of the worm is in front.

About pin position:

Lepidoptera, Odonata and Diptera should insert the needle slightly to the right in the center of the middle thoracic backboard, leaving a complete dorsal midline.

COLEOPTERA insects should insert the needle into the upper left corner of the right COLEOPTERA wing, so that the needle just passes between the middle and rear feet on the ventral surface, so as not to destroy the basal fossa of COLEOPTERA insect classification characteristics.

Hemiptera insects should insert the needle into the right side of the center of the small shield, so that the mouthparts groove on the ventral surface can be preserved completely.

Mantis and ORTHOPTERA insects should insert the needle on the right side of the earthwork at the base of the middle chest.

Hymenoptera insects should be inserted in the center of the middle chest

Height of the needle: the insect to the top of the needle accounts for about 1/3 of the needle length.

Pin setting can be done on the foam board, and the position can be fixed with pins. After the specimen is hardened, it can be taken out and stored in the specimen box.

Specimen boxes can be bought in plant protection equipment stores. Pay attention to put camphor in the specimen box to prevent insects from eating.

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——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Original author: Qin.