[NHCOLL-L:5057] Re: is the best method of preserving insect damage fruit

[Bentley, Andrew Charles]

I would tend to agree.  With preservation in liquid (ethanol) you would have similar problems to zoological material stored the same way:

1.  Specimens preserved directly in ethanol do not stand the tests of time as well as those first fixed in formalin.  I have no experience with fixation or preservation of plant material.  Maybe a botanist could comment on how they preserve fruit (other than drying)?
2.  Unless you inject the fruit you will have inconsistent preservation throughout the fruit with the potential for it to still decay over time at its core.

I would suggests removing cucurbits as voucher specimens from the fruit, taking lots of high res photo's the fruit itself and the damage and attaching those to the voucher specimens in the collection database.

Andy

    A  :             A  :             A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
    V                V                V
 Andy Bentley
 Ichthyology Collection Manager
 University of Kansas
 Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research Center
 Dyche Hall
 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
 Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
 USA

 Tel: (785) 864-3863
 Fax: (785) 864-5335
 Email: ABentley at ku.edu        :
                           :                 :    
    A  :             A  :             A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
    V                V                V


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Doug Yanega
Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2010 11:04 AM
To: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:5056] Re: is the best method of preserving insect damage fruit

>Posting on behalf of a plant health consultant who would like to 
>know how to best preserve whole fruit and cucurbits damaged by 
>insect larval feeding. Any suggestions appreciated.

I find it hard to imagine any way to preserve such tissues other than 
the way one would *normally* preserve such things: basically, by 
pickling them. Any method that involves drying, even freeze-drying, 
is going to involve a loss of color, shape and definition of the 
damaged portions. Even pickling may not leave things exactly as they 
appeared originally. That being said, with digital photography as 
cheap and easy as it is, I'd think you could do almost just as well 
(better, in several respects) if one took lots and lots of close-up 
photos with a scale bar in them. If nothing else, having photos means 
there are no physical specimens to process and find long-term storage 
for, and also means that there are as many copies as one needs, 
instead of just the single original object. Only taxonomists are 
absolutely forced to maintain type specimens. ;-)

Peace,
-- 

Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314        skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82