how to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer
DESCRIPTION
We describe how to use display insects and other natural history items in vials of hand sanitizer. Good for displays where people want to look closely and handle specimens and has wonderful visual effects.TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
How To Preserve Insect Specimens in Hand Sanitizer
By Dejen Mengis, Carl White, Moriah Browning, Denise Williams, Sarah
Fisher
![Page 2: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Purpose and History• Hand sanitizer is a gelled alcohol and can be used to create very cool
insect specimen displays that, unlike pinned specimens, can be handled by children and the public
• Specimens will appear to float in air inside the vials and do not sink or move despite any amount of handling (Sam Droege has kept a vial in his pocket for 2 months without any shifting, for example)
• This technique was shown to us by Wayne White, BCE, of American Pest who has used hand sanitizer to preserve and display bed bug specimens
![Page 3: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Pour hand sanitizer into an empty vial
![Page 4: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Choose a dried, alcohol- or glycol- preserved specimen
![Page 5: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Which Specimens to Use?
• Specimens that have been in alcohol, glycol, or dried work well
• Specimens that are freshly killed appear to dissolve the gel in the sanitizer for some reason
![Page 6: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Move the specimen toward the bottom of the vial with a probe
![Page 7: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Bubble Removal: Water Bath Method
• At this point, there are probably many air bubbles in the vial. The next series of slides demonstrates how to remove these bubbles
• Air also exists inside specimens and needs to be removed or bubbles will gradually migrate outside the specimen over time
![Page 8: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Pour an inch of water into a pot
![Page 9: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Place the vial or vials into the pot, don’t forget that hand sanitizer will burn if exposed to an open flame!
![Page 10: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Boil the vial in the water for 10 minutes or until most of the bubbles are gone
![Page 11: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Carefully, take the vial out of the water
![Page 12: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Use a pipette with a bulb to remove any remaining bubbles
![Page 13: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Top off the vial with more hand sanitizer
![Page 14: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Position the specimen as preferred Even dried specimens become flexible
![Page 15: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Tips…• Thoroughly clean vials before use• You can add labels to vials that “float”• You can add things like beads, dried flowers, sand
etc. that will also float in place…and makes good “clean” fun for kids to make their own insect dioramas. OK, some adults like this too
• Always be sure to overfill with hand sanitizer and if possible permanently seal the vials to eliminate bubbles
![Page 16: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Alternative Bubble Removal: Vacuum
Works reasonably well but….• Specimens and hand sanitizer tend to bubble out of the vial more easily as air bubbles expand under vacuum• Not as efficient as heating in removing all the bubbles in the vial• Vacuum pumps are expensive
![Page 17: How to preserve and display insect specimens in hand sanitizer](https://reader033.vdocuments.mx/reader033/viewer/2022061202/547ae6b1b4af9f7c398b470c/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Correspondence and questions can be addressed to: Sam Droege
([email protected])Thanks to Jelle Devalez for picture taking