Entomologist Noel Starick talks about the correct techniques for pinning insects such as butterflies, grasshoppers and beetles. Visit us at www.qm.qld.gov.au
this video is helpful and adorable and everything but as a newbie to entomology ive only ever bought or collected dead bugs so when he showed his "killing jar" gotta say it made me reconsider my hobby 😕
Wish I decided to do this before....I’ve found so many dead bugs and could have had a decent collection by now. Mostly grasshoppers, bees and tiny beetles....
Where do you get the grasshopper pinning board? We have to make our own here (USA) as nobody manufactures boards like that. It would be great if we could find a supplier!
awesome. this was a very helpful video. found a perfectly in tact Monarch right outside my window sill. really want to display it. thank you so much for this video.
Me and my friend are just getting into the bug game. We have been looking for a video this good for a long time. We have eaten a 170g bag of jalapenos chips each while we have been watching videos on bug collecting. We do have some questions on the subject however. Do any of these specimens have any cognition? I'm slightly concerned they would feel bad if they new thatI was about to shove a pin right through its thorax. Secondly would you recommend a degree in entomology?
im sure you have found out by now, but for whoever who is also wondering- 80% of the time, a full abdomen of a mantis will not rot. while youre pinning and waiting for the joints to harden and set again, THAT is most likely the time the insides will leak out. ive raised 3 mantises into adults, 2 being pinned. my one and only male rotted a few days after he passed. my two girls were full, but one flattened out and the other is still plump. one year later, theyre as dry/intact as day one
@@alied2236 I was given a female mantis at the start of the cold season that wasn't well and didn't make it shortly after. I'm glad to have seen this comment because I pinned her and was terrified she'd rot. Not too keen on pinning her to the display, any chance you could recommend a type of glue that might work well? :)
@@marinasaurus ive only used mod podge lol, but i dont think i use it in the way that youre asking, either. i use mod podge to glue back bits that have snapped, usually when a little too rough on legs and antennae. i have also glued pin heads to beetles’ underside so that i didnt have to push through the entire specimen when pinning it to the display, but that was a lot of work to balance, pin to the display, and orientate it the way i wanted to. i ended up giving up and pinned it through the bodies. i will probably paint the pin heads so theyre less obvious
@@alied2236 ah! I'll have to keep the mod podge in mind, thank you for the tip! I'm super new to the bug preserving world, so I'll take all the info I can get. I'm not too keen on the pin through the torso bit! I used a bit of superglue on the joints by the wings to keep them in place, but I'm afraid it didn't dry as clear as I had hoped.
@@marinasaurus super glue is pretty hardcore, im usually the type who would scrape every visible glue bits, no matter what kind of glue. that being said, the body is probably too fragile for that kind of treatment when it comes to super glue. im a little confused, though, why did you glue the joints? insects’ joints/tendons seize when they die, like how an ant or a spider curls up when it dies. even when you try to spread out legs again, it will still want to curl. when you pin down legs, you can pin along the sides. to avoid pinning through, whether legs or bodies, i recommend keeping it in place by pinning along side the abdomen, including forming an x shape on top of the body with the pins to keep it parallel/close to the pinning mat. you need to be patient and gentle, with a mantis, this process isnt the end of the world. round, slippery beetles were an absolute nightmare to work with like this. i hope this all makes sense !
Is it possible to pin an already dry beetle? Found a perfect rhinoceros betle when i went to uganda and i'd love to have it framed or in a display box.
A big difference. The active ingredient in most nail polish remover is acetone, a common but rather harsh solvent. It will kill insects, but not as quickly, and there is some evidence that acetone may reduce the quality of dispatched specimens-their color, flexibility, and archival stability. Ethyl Acetate is the preferred chemical dispatching agent for entomology. Nail polish remover that contains ethyl acetate is often labelled as "safe(r)" or "low odor." In most countries the ingredients can be found on the back or by Googling [brand name] MSDS. However, pure ethyl acetate should be used whenever possible, as nail polish remover also includes a bevy of other ingredients known to be harmful to specimen archival quality and color. Ethyl acetate can be ordered from entomological suppliers, chemical companies. But those two will overcharge you. EA is sold in hardware stores around the world as a paint thinner, and you can get a gallon for $10-30 USD. It may be labelled as such, or more commonly labelled as "MEK substitute." It may actually be cheaper to purchase "MEK substitute" online and pay for the hazardous shipping than purchase it from speciality suppliers or as scientific grade.
A really nice guy, but guys there is too much contact. Tweezers should be used and no touching the wings at all. However, still a lot better than those I have seen before
I used a killing jar one time only and after observing that insects suffer (not unlike a gas chamber) swore never again. Put restrained live insects in freezer. Way more humane. They go to sleep, then... peace.
I think he was using this killing jar as a relaxing chamber for this particular butterfly. The insect was already deceased. I've noticed some entomologists tend to accidentally interchange the two terms lol. But I agree, killing jars are depressing.
Jennifer Draut As Dragon Paws said, those will have all most likely been killed exactly the same way. If you don't want to kill them simply for this purpose then you either have to find them already dead in the wild or keep them yourself and pin them at the end of their life when they naturally die (which is what I plan to start doing)
+todd [REDACTED] there are plenty of sites that sell dead butterflies that has died of natural causes. There are butterfly sanctuaries and after their life cycle is over they die and then they collect em. And they have thousands of butterflies in their sanctuary so they get a lot of dead butterflies quiet easily
Seriously just wait for it to die ffs. It's only going to be around a couple weeks anyway. let it live. otherwise it's just a reminder of your own cruelty.
