[Nhcoll-l] Antw: Re: Storage Suggestions for Unprocessed Phasmatids

[Hans-Joachim Händel]

Hello Doug,
Dear colleagues

I often do something similar with old, unmounted specimens.

But a few years ago, I got into the habit of using window cleaning
fluid (colourless!) instead of water.
As well as water, window cleaners contain ethanol, ammonia and various
surfactants.
It works faster and better than water, and it doesn’t cause mould to
form either.

All the best and good luck
Joachim


--  
Joachim Haendel
 
Center of Natural Science Collections
of the Martin Luther University (ZNS)
- Zoological Collection -

Domplatz 4
D-06099 Halle (Saale)
Germany

Phone:  +49 345 - 55 26 447
Email: joachim.haendel at zns.uni-halle.de




>>> Douglas Yanega <dyanega at gmail.com> schrieb am 28.05.2026 um 21:21:

We deal with material like this with some frequency, and the standard
approach is to use a relaxing jar - typically a large glass chamber with
water at the bottom, with a few drops of phenol to discourage fungal
growth. The chamber is sealed with vacuum grease, and there is a
platform that keeps the specimens and the paper from contacting the
fluid directly. The idea is to have 100% humidity. It takes no more than
one or two days in the chamber to fully relax even 100-year old insects.
Once relaxed, the specimens are flexible enough to be handled and
pinned, for a short time span after coming out of the chamber - the
latter is the only point at which problems arise, if multiple specimens
are processed at the same time, then remove them one at a time for
mounting, so nothing sits outside the chamber for more than a few
minutes before it is pinned.

It is definitely not desirable to try to force dry specimens into
ethanol - this is not an effective method of rehydration.

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