pinning insects....advice.

[codykrr]

im looking for adviceon pinning an insect...particularly a fly. id like to know whats the best way to pin them.

do i spread the wings?

pin it through the mid section?

currently its frozen. and it is te fly from the thread"look what just crawled out of my tarantula"

also i want to pin this species by itself in its own case. any help is appreciated. cody kerr

 

[spydrhunter1]

You'll want special insect pins...and the pin goes through the thorax, just right of the midline. Here's a good link.....it wven shows prpoer location of the pin. http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/youthdevelopment/DA6892.html

 

[Paladin]

Youre going to want to be very careful with pinning fly wings. They can be quite fragile. When it comes to diptera and most hymenoptera I just pin it without messing with the wings very much at all. If you do choose to manipulate the wings be careful. The trick is to be able to "catch" the wing with the pin using the wing veins while trying not to pierce the wing.

As far as other techniques go for pinning, I would pin the fly as you would most other insects and then slide a peice of foam onto the pin beneath the fly itself. You can then use the foam as a foundation for the legs so they will be held out in a normal standing position. Once dried, you remove the foam. In my opinion it gives the insect a more natural pose.

When you have a ton of specimens to pin it gets VERY tedious. However I find it quite relaxing. I'll throw up some pics of some of the stuff I have collected to give you an example.

Eric

 

[spiderfield]

For an insect that size I wouldn't even bother with pinning, as you may damage it if the proper pin size isn't available. I'd go with gluing it to one end of a strip of paper (like an index card), and pinning the other end of the paper strip.

EDIT: Figure 5 of the above link provided by spydrhunter1 shows an excellent example of what I mean. :clap:

 

[flamesbane]

How large is the fly? I would not pin through the wings, depending on how heavy bodied the fly is you can probably angle the pin and catch the base of the wing in such a way that the pin goes over the fly, under the wing, and into the foam...I don't really know how to describe what I am trying to say here...

 

[codykrr]

thanks everyone, but i wasnt meaning pinning the wings...just manipulating them to a nice "open" position. as or the fly its about a half of an inch....its an unknown small headed fly that came out of a tarantula i ollected here in missouri.

 

[blazetown]

Um semi unrelated but...Does anyone know what the use to add gloss and harden wings on beetles when they're mounted?

 

[What]

Um semi unrelated but...Does anyone know what the use to add gloss and harden wings on beetles when they're mounted?

Afaik it is called air...

(The beetles I have spread all ended up looking just like professionally done stuff just by air drying after spreading.)

 

[flamesbane]

thanks everyone, but i wasnt meaning pinning the wings...just manipulating them to a nice "open" position. as or the fly its about a half of an inch....its an unknown small headed fly that came out of a tarantula i ollected here in missouri.

Right, if you use pins to hold the wings in place they will dry that way. If you make a spreading board (basically two pieces of wood or foam with a gap between them for the body of the insect to rest in) you can pin the insect and then spread the wings and hold them in place with some paper (since it is a fly any kind should do) cut into strips to hold the wings down with a pin on either end of the strip.

Here is a pic I found from a google search that might help you understand what I am saying:

 

[codykrr]

awsome pic! thanks a bunch...now to just get an I.D. on this thing. so far no luck.

 

[GiantVinegaroon]

I say leave the wings be! Spreading small insect wings is very tedious and difficult...and if it's your first time, you may ruin the wings of a perfectly good looking insect! With my flies, I like to sprawl the legs out giving it a more lifelike appearance. The wings are left alone.

As for pinning, straight through the right side of the thorax! Here's a link to how to collect and pin insects...with a diagram on where to pin certain insects.

http://entomology.unl.edu/tmh/ent115/labs/collecting.htm

 

[Arachno Veteran]

A little late but...

I just thought I would mention that I have just had my first, full feature article published. In the September issue of Invertebrates Magazine. The publisher publishes many books and is "a pillar" of the Insect hobby community : ) My article is entitled 'Insect Collecting - Preservation & Mounting' (I would only dare to write about a subject that I know extremely well).
You guys should get a subscription - It's a really cool magazine <edit>. I was originally told it would be in the Dec. issue. I'm happy. The article looks great! Love the pic on the back cover.

Al