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Post by tegner on Mar 26, 2017 1:13:25 GMT
Hello, I was wondering if I could have some help on a project.
I live in Montana and am interested in spending time searching for extinct Rocky Mountain Locust (Melanoplus spretus) specimens that have been found frozen in a glacier in the Beartooth Wilderness. I have worked with older preserved insects (usually stored in Ethanol) and I am concerned about how to dry out locusts that have been frozen in ice for hundreds of years. I have been reading about using IPA to remove water from insects but would be interested in hearing ideas from those of you who have far more experience than I do with this kind of work.
Thanks for your time and your expertise with this, Tegner
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Post by NathanGrosse on Mar 30, 2017 14:13:30 GMT
I'd never thought about this concept before. Fascinating! I don't have any experience with thawing long-frozen insects, but I'm following this thread to see what others have to say.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Mar 30, 2017 15:13:54 GMT
It seems likely to me that if the locusts have retained their colour while frozen in the glacier, as soon as they thaw out the colour will be lost. Probably they will need to be treated like fresh killed specimens by cutting open the underside of the abdomen and removing the whole of the guts as soon as possible. Since this is an extinct species the guts should be immediately preserved in 95% ethanol so that they are available for study if necessary.
Adam.
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klaas
New Aurelian
Posts: 15
Country: Germany
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Post by klaas on Apr 24, 2017 6:05:51 GMT
I made some experience on a non scientifical way of drying insects in a freezer. That because many insects loose their coloration (like locusts, dragonflies etc.) or coincide (like f. e. specimen of genus Meloe). Therefor I mounted my insects, put it into a box and filled this box up to level by using silica gel. It took them around one year to completely dry of. It worked more or less good, means that dragonflies and locusts didn't completely retain their colours, but quite a lot of it and even better than they did by removing the guts. But I do have no experience by drying of insects that have been already frozen in a glacier. And I don't know if any one has. So maybe this will be something by try and error!? Maybe you have to do the basics!?
Best regards Klaas
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