[NHCOLL-L:5138] RE: white crystals appearing on specimens in fluid, any ideas?

Thu Dec 16 16:02:52 EST 2010

Heather

I had similar stuff in a jar of tapeworms, although in this case it was white pearly flakes. I had our mineralogy guys run it under the x-ray chromatograph.  They tell me it's cholesterol, likely dissolved out of the tissues and then precipitated.

But dammit Jim, I'm a collection manager, not a chemist!
Judith

Judith C. Price
Secretary, Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections
Assistant Collections Manager, Invertebrates / Gestionnaire adjointe des collections invertébrés
Canadian Museum of Nature / Musée canadien de la Nature
PO Box 3443 Station D / CP 3443 Succ <<D>>
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6P4 CANADA
Tel.613.566.4263 / Fax.613.364.4027
jprice at mus-nature.ca
@nature_jcp
www.nature.ca / www.spnhc.org

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Heather Campbell
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 3:21 PM
To: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:5137] white crystals appearing on specimens in fluid, any ideas?

Hello all,

While rehousing the bee wet collection I have noticed that some vials
contain specimens that have white material growing (?) on them.  Here are
a few details that may be important when considering a diagnosis:
1. Only vials containing larvae (maybe pupae) are affected
2. Different species and different years (but always older than 5yrs) and
different locals
3. Preservative used: Kahle's sol
                       acetic acid (glacial) 10%
                       formalin (37%)        10%
                       water                 25%
                       Ethanol (75%)         55%
4. Easily scraped away and has a plaque-like resemblance
5. no visible damage done to specimen (naked eye)

I have pictures but am unable to send due to limits on message size.  I
will be happy to send these along to anyone who is interested.

Thank you

Heather M. Campbell
Bee Curatorial Assistant
Division of Invertebrate Zoology
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West @ 79th st.
New York, NY 10024-5192
212-496-3447