page_title: Insect collecting
section_title: Storage and curation
hierarchical_section_title: Insect collecting / Storage and curation
caption_attribution_description: Unidentified Tortoise Beetles. Part of Don Ehlen's "Insect Safari" collection. If you know more about the individual species here, please feel free to flesh out this description.
context_page_description: Insect collecting refers to the collection of insects and other arthropods for scientific study or as a hobby. Because most insects are small and the majority cannot be identified without the examination of minute morphological characters, entomologists often make and maintain insect collections. Very large collections are conserved in natural history museums or universities where they are maintained and studied by specialists. Many college courses require students to form small collections. There are also amateur entomologists and collectors who keep collections.
  Historically, insect collecting has been widespread and was in the Victorian age a very popular educational hobby. Insect collecting has left traces in European cultural history, literature and songs. The practice is still widespread in many countries, and is particularly common among Japanese youths.
context_section_description: There are several different preservation methods that are used; some of which include: dried preservation (pinning), liquid preservation, slide mounts, other various preservation methods. Dried preservation is by far the most common form of insect preservation. The large majority of the time insects are pinned vertically through their mesothorax and slightly off-center to the right of the mid-line. It is better to pin a insect that has died recently enough that they have not dried yet because it allows the thoracic muscles to adhere to the pin (previously dried specimens must have glue applied to the pin location to avoid spinning). the pin should sit with 1/4 of the pin above the insect as to allow enough room for labels to be readable underneath. When pinning insects with wings for display it is important to display them properly: Lepidoptera wings should always be spread. Orthopteroids often have left wings spread. In scientific collections it is often found that the insect's wings, legs, and antenna are tucked underneath it to conserve space. When pin-mounting small insects the insect is glued to a piece of non acidic, triangle paper. This is called pointing. When drying an insect the relaxed insect is spread out accordingly using pins on a foam block where it can dry and retain its positioning. When drying insects with wings such as butterflies setting paper is used to position the wings. When labeling insects the labels are presented in this order top down: Locality, additional locality/voucher label/accession numbers, insect identification.
  Rare insects, or those from distant parts of the world, may also be acquired from dealers or by trading. Some noted insect collections have been sold at auction.
caption: Part of a beetle collection. The insects are transfixed by entomological pins which allow handling and which also pierce the data label
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