ren
Aurelian
Natural History Fan
Posts: 100
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Post by ren on Jul 29, 2019 14:35:04 GMT
The last batch of butterflies I did have the antennae come out well.
However, I did two sunset moths the other day, and their antenna all fell to bits.
I rehydrated them by cutting the tips off their envelopes, and putting these between damp paper towels for about 2.5 days. They were very hydrated, probably more flexible than the ones I did before that did not lose their antennas.
What might I have done wrong?
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Post by exoticimports on Jul 30, 2019 12:56:31 GMT
I have never heard of this happening. Typically antennae are the first to relax so should not crumble. Even if very wet for a long time I’ve never had them decay and fall apart. Odd.
Chuck
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Post by Paul K on Jul 30, 2019 14:20:07 GMT
Antenna tend to dry very quickly so it is possible that you took too much time to spread specimen, even the heat of light you are working under can speed up drying process. Moths antennas are usually much more thin than butterflies and to spread them straight is sometimes almost impossible without breaking.
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Post by xavm (Xavier) on Jul 30, 2019 14:54:08 GMT
Antenna tend to dry very quickly so it is possible that you took too much time to spread specimen, even the heat of light you are working under can speed up drying process. Moths antennas are usually much more thin than butterflies and to spread them straight is sometimes almost impossible without breaking. Yes, it happens quite often with Noctuidae having very thin antennae. |
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bandrow
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 80 
Country: USA
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Post by bandrow on Jul 31, 2019 0:48:10 GMT
Greetings,
I'm a coleopterist, but have experienced something similar a few times with beetles. It's possible that the specimens were not dried fast enough when first captured and began to rot. If so, when you added water again the rot worsened and caused the antennae to fall apart. I've had this occur with beetles - usually the legs fall off or the antennae come apart.
Just a guess...
Cheers!
Bandrow
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Post by exoticimports on Jul 31, 2019 12:15:35 GMT
Some great insight here!
Chuck
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Post by boghaunter1 on Aug 24, 2019 22:22:30 GMT
Hi Ren,
Keep wetting the antennae with a small paint brush dipped in water (or clear gin) every few minutes until you spread the wings & can get to them... or... quickly temporarily set the wings out flat & manipulate the antennae first (gotta be quick!). Still, as others have stated, can be difficult to prevent breakage among some moths.... Noctuids as stated & many day flying moths.
John K.
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ren
Aurelian
Natural History Fan
Posts: 100
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Post by ren on Aug 27, 2019 19:37:51 GMT
Were the antenae soft or dry? They could rot in the envelopes and fell apart. One atenna was broken in the package already. Thanks for the advice folks! |
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