[Nhcoll-l] long-term storage of amphibian larvae in formalin

[John E Simmons]

Carola,
You should maintain the larval specimens in buffered 10% formaldehyde.
Amphibian larvae are very soft-bodied and will shrink substantially in
alcohol, making them unusable for study. In addition, the specimens may
lose beaks and other significant features in alcohol. Furthermore, it will
take repeated soaking in alcohol solutions to remove significant amounts of
the formaldehyde, which will further damage the specimens.

You are correct that in general, ethanol is a safer storage solution than
formaldehyde, but not for amphibian larvae. Specimens in buffered
formaldehyde should be labeled as such, of course.

If you have other questions about fluid preservation, you may want to check
this recently published reference:

"Fluid Preservation: A Comprehensive Reference."

Sincerely,
John


John E. Simmons
Museologica
128 E. Burnside Street
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
simmons.johne at gmail.com
303-681-5708
www.museologica.com
and
Adjunct Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
and
Lecturer in Art
Juniata College
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania


On Thu, Jun 19, 2014 at 3:44 PM, Carola Haas <cahaas at vt.edu> wrote:

> I received such great help for my previous request, and hope folks won't
> mind my sending another one so soon.  (I'm just a field biologist who has
> been tasked with a cleanout and reorganization of our collection.)
>
> We have a number of larval amphibians (tadpoles and salamander larvae)
> preserved in 10% buffered formalin.  Most of our fish, amphibian, and
> reptile specimens were fixed in formalin but then transferred over to
> ethanol for long-term storage. I have read that formalin is more
> appropriate for long-term storage of reptile eggs and larval amphibians,
> but I wanted to check and make sure that is still the current practice?
>
> I would like to improve the safety of our collections by switching to
> ethanol if that is acceptable, but obviously not if it will degrade the
> specimens.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Carola A. Haas
> Professor, Wildlife Ecology
> Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Conservation
> 112 Cheatham Hall
> MC 0321 Virginia Tech
> Blacksburg, VA 24061
> cahaas at vt.edu
> 540-231-9269
> http://www.fishwild.vt.edu/faculty/haas.htm
>
>
>
>
>
>
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