How to "grade" an insect

[cabintom]

This is really a question. I see things like A1, A1-, B, etc. thrown around a lot referring to the condition of a particular insect... what exactly do these mean? I have a general idea but that's just based on the context in which I've seen those grades employed. Is there some sort of international standard somewhere?

Thanks,
Tom

[africaone]

A1 is a perfect specimen , wild caught (A1+ is perfect breeding quality)
A- is a A& will a small default that is visible but not so obvious  (-- = two small, ...)
B is a specimen with a big default (piece of wing missing, rubbed, etc.)
C = your plistonax ;-) also called Z quality

[bobw]

Basically no, there is no standard, everybody seems to have different ideas of what the gradings should be. At one time a few years ago Bill Garthe tried to promote a standard on InsectNet which some people subscribed to but you can't force anybody to follow these things.

Years ago I was brought up to think that A1 is a perfect specimen, A- would be a specimen with minor flight wear or one or two minor nicks, A2 had some real flight wear or several more serious nicks, and B was a rag.  Now people have introduced other categories such as A1+ meaning ex-pupa and A1- meaning nearly perfect.  However, I see specimens on eBay marked as A1 which I would have graded as A- in the past, or A1- which I would have called A2.  Unfortunately it's all subjective and you can't trust gradings at all any more.

Bob

[Paul K]

Even if there would be international grading standard ( A1 perfect, A1-
one 2 mm long scratch or 1mm x 1mm chip on wing ( again the size of the specimen should be considered, on small micro moth 1mm chip would be as much as half of the wing , on large Birdwing almost invisible imperfection)and so on - the book most likely to be thick ) then who wants to follow it anyway.
It is up to individual collector what makes him happy or not and what insect is more valuable to him.

Simple example from my small collection:

Morpho rhetenor 


A1 specimen,
Method of collection:
purchased from insect store off internet for no more then $20.00 with few clicks on the laptop inside my air con room on my cozy sofa.



Morpho rhetenor rhetenor 

B- specimen,
caught in Feb 2004 by my self in Franch Guiana. Rare species at that time of the year.
Method of collection: 
200 meters sprint run with the net in my hand on the only one paved road in Kaw Mountains in the hit of the sun at +35^oC and humidity near 90%. After few missed swings of the net swearing at my catching skills and shouting to the insect not to fly off the road with my tongue out and heart beat rate of heart attack final strike before blue butterfly takes off and...succeed.



Which specimen is more valuable to me A1 or B- ? Of course A1...just kidding  . I wouldn't sell or trade my precious Morpho: grade B- .
( Please not it has attached abdomen as we have spoke about it on another thread )

Paul

[Adam Cotton]

At worst I would rate the Morpho you caught as A2, certainly not B-, and I would definitely value that 1,000 times more than the abdomen-less bred specimen.

Adam.

[Deleted]

The truth is there is no foolproof template, each dealer grades differently so its a lottery. I am of a mind that if a specimen is graded a1+ then it is as near perfect as is humanly possible, a1 has hardly any discernible damage, a- has minor but noticeable flaws, a2 has some nicks or rubs but is still a presentable specimen and b quality is a damaged specimen that is better than nothing. Some dealers are very optimistic in their grading while the very best always grade one worse than it actually is.

[Paul K]

Jan 20, 2016 18:29:15 GMT Adam Cotton said:

At worst I would rate the Morpho you caught as A2, certainly not B-, and I would definitely value that 1,000 times more than the abdomen-less bred specimen.

Adam.

A2 : Yes I'd like that more then B-

Paul