drooping wings

[Smith, Richard H.]

I have also found that room-air, thoroughly dried papered specimens, once they are later relaxed thoroughly in an airtight container (still in their glassine envelopes but between wet paper towels for a day or two) will dry and stay position-fixed after spreading in about half the time (7-10 days), compared to immediately spreading freezer-stored specimens.  Also, I keep my collection in a basement room, which makes it a necessity to equip that room with a humidifier.  Keeping a humidifier in any collection room is probably a good idea.  Lastly, I keep a box of chemical desiccant in a small plastic tray in the bottoms of my Cornell cabinets.  That seems to even eliminate the growth of carpet beetles in the cabinets (I've done this for over 10 years), without all the odor of PDB, although I do still check on any sign of pests every few months.

Richard H. (Dick) Smith
Columbia, MD
Richard.Smith at jhuapl.edu<mailto:Richard.Smith at jhuapl.edu>


From: owner-leps-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-leps-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of James McDermott
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2010 12:55 PM
To: souky at thenaturedepot.com
Cc: Leps-l
Subject: Re: drooping wings


This would be my guess, too. I allow specimens to dry naturally over 2 weeks or so, and don't usually have the drooping. Of course, some genera like Urbanus, Chiomara, and relatives almost inevitably droop-- for me.

I have had a curious observation. Papered specimens which have been relaxed (but NOT thoroughly enough) can be spread and the wings will hold initially. After 3 weeks or so the wings, probably absorbing humidity, contract upwards.


James McDermott


On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 7:36 AM, Michael Soukup <mikayak3 at comcast.net<mailto:mikayak3 at comcast.net>> wrote:
I may be off here Bruce, but I have found that drying in the oven is not the best.  From my experience, it tends to "super-dry" them immediately - in fact TOO dry, but, like any pendulum swung too far in one direction, they tend to absorb "extra moisture" when taken out (then droop).  I stopped using the oven and just allow them to dry more naturally over the course of a week or so (for fresh specimens)(although I do put them near vents and warm, slightly breezy areas).  I have had MUCH better results this way....and I DEFINITELY have more humidity than you have ever seen down there.,
--
[cid:image001.jpg at 01CB7CF9.C5D76640]

Souky

Designer, Nature Depot, Inc.

http://www.TheNatureDepot.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/private/leps-l/attachments/20101105/ee750452/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1742 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
Url : http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/private/leps-l/attachments/20101105/ee750452/attachment.jpg