Preservation of butterflies

[mldov1959]

I was wondering if any members have some preference for mounted butterfly preservation. Presently have been using Naphthalene in my airtight cases, but the butteflies seem to have their wings curl and tears appear at the wing periphery, and even cracks appear in the wing center. I see no evidence of any larvae attacking the butterflies, and as mentioned, the cases are air-tight or nearly so, Cornell drawers as sold by BioQuip.
Could the Naphthalene be doing this ?  Would paradichlorobenzene crystals be better ?

[nomad]

I now use plenty of Naththalene for protection and have never had a problem. I cannot imagine what is causing this effect. Any body-wing dust present underneath your specimens?

[lordpandarus]

somekind of humidity problem?

[davemoore]

Any chance of a pic?
I have only had this effect once when a case was left in direct sunlight I assumed it was due to heat and total dehydration
Never happened again
Dave

[nomad]

I am sorry if I sound skeptical, but after giving your problem some thought, it sounds like the stuff of science- fiction. Unless as the Lord has suggested you live in a very hot house. You seem to ask questions and give no feedback. Let us please see a image.

[Deleted]

The answer to your question is no, neither paradichlorbenzine or naphthaline will cause a specimens wings to move or curl at all, as my Lord has said it is almost certain to be room temperature/humidity. Keep your specimens in airtight boxes/cabinet drawers if possible as dark as it can be, well stocked with dermestid repellent and they will happily sit there for decades with no ill effects.

[nomad]

I would say that before the arrival of papered specimens, all the 19th century and many of the 20th century collectors set their specimens in the field where there was a very high humidity with no ill effects. Some of these specimens were in those conditions for a very long time. Of course a lot of moisture will effect set specimens, but as these are kept in air tight cabinets???.

[mldov1959]

Feb 26, 2014 21:47:26 GMT -8 nomad said:

I am sorry if I sound skeptical, but after giving your problem some thought, it sounds like the stuff of science- fiction. Unless as the Lord has suggested you live in a very hot house. You seem to ask questions and give no feedback. Let us please see a image.

Sorry for the delay in answering...I know everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting for the continuation of this "science-fiction" thriller. Well the pictures are posted below. No body-wing dust, drawer with case (pictured below) is air-tight and in the house with no sun exposure or temperature variation.  The right wing of Copiopteryx is shown about a year apart (top is the more recent image).  The curling of the wing of the Dirphia is obvious.  Spontaneous crack in the Morpho wing at point of pin hole.

Attachments:

[nomad]

Thank you for posting your images. The Dirphia wing curl looks very strange. Was the specimen properly dried on the setting board with paper covering all of the wings?. Perhaps your problem here lies in the spreading process. The Copiopteryx wing edges look like they have been subject to a mite attack. Pins holes are best avoided when setting specimens, you can see the crack comes direct from there . I dislike pin holes in my specimens. Regards Peter.

[mldov1959]

Peter,
Thanks for your post. The curling of the wings occurred months after removal from the spreading board; standard manner with glassine paper strips covering the entire wings and drying for 7 to 10 days before removal. Recently with the birdwings, I stopped using pins for spreading wings and went to forceps instead, but the crack occurred after the Morpho was in the case. Very baffling. Could it have something to do with the softening process ?; I use Chlorocresol in an airtight container with some cotton dampened with water to which has been addeded a few drops of ethyl alcohol (to inhibit mold). Neither the dampened cotton, nor the Chlorocresol are in direct contact with any specimens. Baffling...

[nomad]

Hi Midov 1959. I apologize if I at first did not take your problems seriously. We have had some leg pulls here. If you use Chlorocresol regularly and this is affecting your specimens then the wing curl should be apparent in other specimens. I have had mite attack on spreading boards and wing edges have been affected, the critters may have been transferred unseen and have done some damage before the Naphthalene killed them. I still suggest a hairline crack may have occurred when the pin hole was made in the morpho and for some reason has widened. Peter.

[mldov1959]

Thanks Peter for your attention to my problem. Yes, there are a FEW other butterflies affected with wing curling, but not all. By the way, with regard to the mites, the wing tip cracking occurred months later after putting the butterflies in the case with the Naphthalene. The only other possibility I have for the damage is that my wife, while showing off the butterflies to someone, bumped the case, just jarring the butterflies. Don't know if this is possible to damage butteflies in this way. I don't want to keep asking questions, but one last one. Have you or anyone else had a problem with Chlorocresol affecting specimens after mounting ? Michael

[exoticimports]

We could merge this thread with the one on re-spreading.

I've experienced splitting over many years, and for everyone- new and experienced alike- I will list them all, although they may not be applicable to your case.

1. Failure to cover/flatten wing edges right away. In younger years I'd just use narrow strips to hold the wings, and not cover the edges- that is, until they'd start to curl, then I'd lay down another strip over the edges. Guess what happened- yes, that would split the now-drying wing edges.
2. Removing the specimen from the board too soon- the wings stay in place, but the edges (which one could assume were dry first) were apparently not firmly dried, so curled and split.
3. Static on the glass pulling up the wing edges, causing them to split.

On your other topics:
1. I too use Naphthalene
2. I too use BioQuip Cornell drawers- and let me tell you, dermestids can still get in! Airtight to us is apparently NOT the same airtight to dermestid beetles! So make sure you use something to deter them. BTW, I recently found a dermestid infestation in one drawer, so was able to put it out in the garage for a week at -20C. I suppose there are some benefits to living in the frigid regions.