|
Chrysidids
must be handled with soft tweezers, paying attention
to the fragile articulations of legs and antennas. A
good handling
zone
is the thorax,
extremely chitinic and rigid.
 |
|
Standard
entomological
labels and pins

|
|
|
|
|
No.
|
length
mm
|
Ø
mm
|
|
000
|
38
|
0.25
|
|
00
|
38
|
0.30
|
|
0
|
38
|
0.35
|
|
1
|
38
|
0.40
|
|
2
|
38
|
0.45
|
|
3
|
38
|
0.50
|
|
4
|
38
|
0.55
|
|
5
|
38
|
0.60
|
|
6
|
38
|
0.65
|
|
7
|
52
|
0.70
|
|
|
A
good preparation of the specimen makes the study
and identification easier. For this purpose, avoid a collection
of specimens glued in dead position (rolled-up) as well
as
avoid to pin the specimens through the thorax (as you do
in the case of large bugs). It's better if you follow these
steps:
(0) humidificate the specimens (if they are dried), (1) prepare
the specimens, (2) dry them, (3) glue them on entomological
labels and (4) complete all with capture labels and with
entomological
support pin.
(0)
Humidification - If the specimen is dry (dehydrated)
and you want to re-prepare it, you have to humidificate it
in a hermetic jar containing cotton and water. The time of
permanence is variable and you can test the state of mobility
of the articulations of the specimen with a fine pin. A fast
method of humidification consists in taking a syringe, removing
the needle, inserting the dried specimen in the room, partially
filling up the syringe with water. Turn the syringe upwards
and press the piston in order to eliminate the air, then,
closing the needle-hole with the inch to ensure the vacuum,
pull the piston: in a such way the air contained in the specimen
is extracted and replaced by water, forcing the humidification
of the specimen; repeat the process 2-3 times.
(1)
Preparation - To prepare the specimen you need a panel
similar to the bottom of the entomological boxes - an expanded
closed-cell foam - which will allow you to insert and to
extract pins easily and to hold them in position. A material
like
that is usually known as Plastazote. Then you need
a pair of soft tweezers and a variety of thin entomological
pins (standard measures 000, 00, 0). First of all, if the
specimen has the internal abdominal segments still inside,
you have to operate with a thin pin to extract the package
of the internal segments (to know the sex of the specimen),
positioning the packet in a little tube containing preserving
alcohol (75%), for future preparation (label it!). The internal
segments will tell you if the specimen is a female or a male.
Then, using the tweezers you will set the specimen lying
down
in ventral position, locking it to the panel with 2-3 pins
intercrossing the thorax. With other pins you will symmetrically
set legs, head, antennas and wings. Legs and wings must be
set not too close to the body, to allow the examination
of
some diagnostic characters.
(2) Drying - The specimen will rest for various days
on the panel in dry atmosphere, which facilitates the evaporation
and therefore the dehydration of the tissues. Recently-captured
specimens will require more time for the complete dehydration
because also the inner apparatuses need to be dehydrated
in order to avoid moulds in the closed atmosphere of your
entomological
boxes. Once dried - you can test the status of rigidity by
using a thin pin #000 to move the wings - you can remove
the
locking pins, paying attention during the extraction and
avoiding an elastic return of the pin against the rigid
fragile appendages.
(3)
Entomological label - The dried specimen is then glued
on an entomological carrying-object label of adequate dimension
and possibly similar to the other used for the specimens
of
similar dimension. To this purpose, it is useful not to have
too many dimensional label models, but to have 1-2 standard
measures only. The entomological label is a typographical
precutted card, but you can also use cards manually cutted
from transparent plastic sheets, which facilitates the examination
of the ventral face of the specimen. The glue must be easy
to buy and easy to remove from the specimen through humidification:
a vinilic glue (Vinavil) is suggested. The packet of the
extracted
internal segments deserves to be dealt with separately: this
is a specialistic preparation requiring the use of a stereoscopic
microscope. Simply, you can pose the packet on a
second card, drowning it in a drop of Eukitt or Euparal
resin.
(4)
Capture labels - The prepared specimen needs the capture
label, with the following data: collection place (Country,
State, Region, City, locality, etc.), significant geomorfologic
element (lakes, forests, rivers, etc), coordinates (if known),
date (using an international convention for which the month
is in Roman numbers, i.e. XII (= 12) for December), name/s
of collector/s
(i.e. "leg. C. Darwin" or "C. Darwin coll.", depending on
the Latin or English terminology). On another label you
may
add some notes about your field observations (i.e. on Daucus flower).
Avoid an excessively personal simbology and personal numerations,
because one
day
that specimen could be exchanged with other entomologists
or be donated to a Museum: cryptic information in the
labels
could be a problem for the future researchers. All these
data could be written on more cards, and possibly only on
the
upper
surface.
|