[Nhcoll-l] Question about freezing insect specimens

[Doug Yanega]

On 8/3/15 4:20 PM, Elizabeth Wommack wrote:
>
> For pest control, we freeze specimens and boxes in a -80 freezer. My 
> question is will the insect specimens be fine if they go through the 
> freezing process that I would normally put mammal and bird skins 
> through? I generally freeze material for 4-5 days in the -80.
>
Absolutely fine. In fact, for dermestid control, we freeze for several 
days, allow to thaw, and then re-freeze, just to be safe. However, if 
you do this, monitor the case when allowing the thaw; you need to avoid 
moisture buildup inside the case, which may mean keeping the case sealed 
if the ambient humidity is high. For smaller containers like Schmitt 
boxes, we sometimes use freezer ziplocs.

Hope this helps,

-- 
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
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