Butterflies genitalia preparation

[jonathan]

Hi people,

Just a quick question - Do you know if the genitalia of pinned butterfly specimens shrink and deform when dry?

Thanks.
Jonathan

[jshuey]

No – they are made of chitin – just like the elytra of a beetle. My guess is that if you dissected them using strong KOH for too long – you could weaken the structures so that they collapsed when dry.



John