Taxonomic Collections, Preservation and Curating of Insects

Taxonomy: Taxonomy is the science of defining and naming groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics.
The classification of organisms is according to hierarchal system or in taxonomic ranks (eg; domain, kingdom, phylum class, order, family, genus and species) based on phylogenetic relationship established by genetic analysis.
Taxonomic Collection : Biological collection are typically preserved plant or animals specimens along with specimen documentations such as labels and notations.
Dry Collection - Dry collections consist of those specimens that are preserved in a dry state.
Wet Collection - Wet collections are specimens kept in a liquid preservative to prevent their deterioration.

1. Presented by:- Kamlesh Patel MSc Zoology 1 st Sem Topic : Taxonomic Collections , Preservation and Curating of insect Submitted to:- Department of Zoology St. Aloysius College Jabalpur

2. Synopsis Introduction Taxonomic Collection Mounting insects and Labeling Preservation of Collection Curation and Storage References

3. Introduction Taxonomy: Taxonomy is the science of defining and naming groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics. The classification of organisms is according to hierarchal system or in taxonomic ranks ( eg ; domain, kingdom, phylum  class, order, family, genus  and species ) based on phylogenetic relationship established by genetic analysis.

4. Taxonomic Collection Dry Collection Dry collections consist of those specimens that are preserved in a dry state. Wet Collection Wet collections are specimens kept in a liquid preservative to prevent their deterioration. Biological collection are typically preserved plant or animals specimens along with specimen documentations such as labels and notations .

5. Collection equipment and methods There are various ways to collect animals. These methods may be from picking up insects flying towards a torch light in the evening to trawling or dredging for deep sea animals. The later method requires elaborate and specifically designed equipment operated by a crew of sailors and scientists on an ocean-going vessel. Now collecting is a highly specialized procedure in which a collector concentrates only on a group of organisms.

6. (A) Insect Net It consists of a wire ring, a bag and a handle. The ring should be 12-15 cm in diameter and made of about 3mm iron of steel wire. The end of the wire is straight which can fit into the grooves of the handles The bag is either of muslin cloth, fine nylon net or any other material depending upon the method and purpose of collection. The small insects, lepidopterist can be removed from the net with a killing bottle enclosing the end of the net. Aquatic insects and other arthropods are best collected by dip net and plankton net

7. Dip Net Malaise traps Sweeping net Plankton Net

8. (B) Aspirator It is a simple suction apparatus used for small insects and arachnids. These are of several designs. Transparent plastic is commonly used for vial. Vial is sometime opened at one end only. The open ends provided with tightly fitting rubber stoppers to avoid the crushing of small insects which otherwise may crawl between the stopper and the wall of the vial. Two glass tubes of the suction tube for sucking through the mouth. Another type of aspirator is the bulb aspirator, it is quite useful for the collection of mites, small insects and spiders.

9. (C) Berlese Funnel It is quite useful in extraction and other small arthropods from organic soils and leaf liter. It is a simple apparatus consisting of a metal or plastic funnel having a wire mesh on its bottom for holding the sample. The narrow end of the funnel is received in a beaker or any other container containing 70% alcohol with a few drops of glycerin to avoid desiccation in case of the alcohol evaporates. The funnel in than covered with a lid having a hole in the middle for an electric bulb. As the upper part of the sample dries up due to the heat of the bulb, the organism avoiding heat and start migrating deeper and deeper into the funnel. They finally fall at the bottom of sample and collected in a container kept below.

10. (D) Floatation Method This method is simple and also used to extract insects , mites, and other arthropods from the soil or matted vegetation. It is also good for collecting eggs and pupae of insects from such materials. The sample is thrown up in a basic solution , containing a mixture of magnesium sulphate in water in 1:3 ratio. It is then stirred gently after sometime the organisms start floating over the surface of water from where they are collected on a sieve or filter paper.

11. (E) Killing Agents and Bottles ( i ) Cyanide bottle: It consists of a wide-mounted bottles with a well fitted cork or lid. A layer of granulated potassium cyanide is spread at the bottom of the bottle then the powdered dry plaster-of- paris is poured over it till it forms a layer of 1.5-2 cm thickness and then 4-5 drops of water is added to it and then it left for drying upto 20-30 hours. A blotting paper is then spread over it for absorbing moisture given out by the cyanide and to avoid direct contact of specimen with killing agent because cyanide canmake the insects hard and brittle besides affecting their colors if left in bottle for too long.

12. (ii) Ethyl acetate killing bottle or Tube: Ethyl acetate is also an effective killing agent for insects, especially hymenopterans etc. Killing bottle is made up of glass having cotton at the base soaked with killing agent and then a blotting paper is placed over it. Then the insects are collected in this bottle and the bottle is corked tightly.

13. (iii) Benzene killing bottle The method of killing insects and their preservation depends upon the kind of insects involved. No one method is satisfactory for all specimens. Benzene killing bottles can be used to randomly collect insects in at road side areas. For the preparation of the killing bottle a layer of cotton was placed at the bottom of a bottle . Then a thin filter paper was kept over the cotton Then 3-4 drops of benzene was added on top of the filter paper to narcotize the insects . 3-4 drops of benzene was added after every 15 minutes of collection of insects for effective results

14. Sorting Insects collected were sorted according to their orders. Envelope were made up of butter papers in which the insects sorted were kept. Date of collection, day or night collection, area name and orders were written with pencil on the envelope. Envelopes containing insects of different orders were kept together for further process .

15. Relaxation While insects should be pinned on the same day they were collected, this is not always possible. So before pinning these specimens left in the killing jar too long, to restore their flexibility, it is necessary to "relax" them. By placing them in a relaxing jar at high humidity for a few days we can restore their flexibility enough to allow pinning without damage to the specimens.

16. Pinning Rest the specimen on a pinning block and steady the insect by either holding it with your fingers or holding it in place with a forceps. Place the insect pin into the insect body. Insects are generally pinned through the thorax on the right side. Approximately 3/8 inch of the pin should be showing above the insect body, enough so you can comfortably hold the pin with little risk of accidentally touching the specimen. Once the insect is pinned you can spread the wings by placing it on the spreading board so the wings are level with the top of the board. Mounting

17. ( i ) Direct pinning (ii) Double mounting and pointing

18. (iii) Carding (iv) Spreading

19. Drying After the process of pinning the pinning board were kept in oven for 3 days at 37 degree Celsius.

20. Preservation of Collection Your collection should be stored in wooden storage boxes or cabinets with trays. Boxes and trays are lined with cork or foam. Wooden cigar boxes may also be used in which to store your collection. Your collection must be sealed tightly with a fumigant in order to keep pests from destroying it. A fumigant such as naphthalene (mothballs) or paradichlorobenzene* will deter most pests, but your collection should be checked monthly for damage.

21. Dry Preservation Wet Preservation

22. Labeling An unlabeled specimen is incomplete and unacceptable. Labels should not be larger than 6x16 mm. Labels should be written in pencil, or computer-generated. Every specimen must have the following information on the label: Specimen number and order Geographic locality Date Stage (adult male, female or immature form) Altitude or Depth Host Habitat Name of collector

23. Labeling

24. Curation Once the animals are collected, labelled and preserved, the next important job is of their safe custody, cataloguing, etc. This is the work of a curator. Curating is a very important task of a taxonomist, especially when one day he is likely to become the in-charge of a museum to look after the whole collection. Curating is an extreme varied business that takes a lot of time of most taxonomists. A curator then needs to have an expert knowledge of his collection, the groups of animals in which collections are needed, areas which need to be urgently sampled , and the various policies with regard to the use of such collections. His primary responsibility is to preserve the collection, to accumulate, maintain and conserve a documented record of his collection.

25. Storage Storage building should be:- Fireproof, Dustproof, Earthquake resistant, Air-conditioned. Special care for type specimens:- Type specimens should not be allowed to be handled frequently. They should only be examined by experts. Avoid their transport as far as possible. They should be stored separately from general collection. They should be clearly labelled in distinct colours .

26. Storage

27. Reference Goswami S.C. 2004, Methedology Of Collection And Identification, pp 55-67 Dalella And Sharma, Text Book Of Taxonomy, pp25-48 https://www.google.co.in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_collecting https://www.Slideshare.Net/Taxonomic-procedures

28. Thank You This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND