The setting of preserved specimen in insect collections - a pair of befores and afters

[ItalianTermiteMan]

After rehydrating in an humid chamber (or directly if your specimen is still pliable), an (already dead, obviously) insect must be first pinned and then set to be added to an entomological collection (wet-preserved specimen aside). The setting process consist in a securely positioning your specimen in a way you like with several pins and then let it dry for a few days until all its junctures are stiff again, leaving it ready to be freed from the setting pins and ready for the entomological case. Here i'll just share with you a few pics of the same two stag beetle specimens during and after such process.


Large male of Ondontolabis siva siva, a beautiful stag beetle (Lucanidae) from South-East Asia (specimen origin: Sagaing, Myanmar) in a "classical" pose:


Before



After


Prosopocoilus savagei savagei, another colorful stag beetle hailing central Africa (specimen origin: North Kivu, Congo), this time prepared with open wings:


Before



After

 

[SpookySpooder]

How do you manipulate the elytra and hemelytra without tearing them to bits?

 

[ItalianTermiteMan]

How do you manipulate the elytra and hemelytra without tearing them to bits?

Beetles have elytra and wings, hemelytra are found in Hemiptera.
Regarding the question: the elytra are robust and don't risk damage (you do however need to be careful not to break their articulation point when you open them for the first time), to manipulate the wings i use a pair of soft-grip thin tweezers, the round head of an entomological pin and a lot of care!

 

[SpookySpooder]

Thanks for the tip, I may need to find better tweezers. I used a needlepoint manufuacturing tweezer to manipulate the hemelytra of a deceased adult Zelus longipes and I tore right through the darn thing immediately. You must have a really gentle hand.

 

[DustyD]

For a shadow box or other display, do you simply use glue to affix the insect or arachnid to the board?

 

[ItalianTermiteMan]

For a shadow box or other display, do you simply use glue to affix the insect or arachnid to the board?

Personally i usually pin, and so it's the pin itself that keep the specimens fixed in my entomological cases. For some small species i first glue to a rigid paper label, then pin the label rather than the jnsect itself.