Method to preserve female adult of Psychidae

[JKim]

Hello,
I got a question over Psychidae preservation.

Psychidae female adults are not like any other female adults. They are caterpillar-like form with no or reduced legs and are wingless. It seems they are somewhat hairy as well.

How can I preserve this as a specimen? If I preserve it as a fluid collection, all the hair may be lost. Would there be any way to dry it without shrunk it?

[clinton9]

Try stuff with cottons, but you have to do...
1) freeze it overnight
2) Cut lengthwise on underside of body of the moth while it is frozen solid...its easier than unfrozen moth.
3) Scrape the contacts out of body, with small 100mm screwdriver.
4) Apply the talcum powder to grease/fat so talcum powder absorb the fat...fill the body with talcum powder.
5) Scrape both talcum powder and fat out of body...carefully and patiently.
6) Dip the cotton in talcum powder lightly, then stuff the body with cotton.
7) Wrap the body with trace/kitchen paper & hold with pins.
8) After 6-7 days of mounting, unwrap the body.

Be careful the skin may be thin.

Outcome is you will have a de-greased & stuffed female Psychidae moth.

I had solved the problem with greasy aenetus moths, by gutted them, applied talcum powder to fats and removed fats out of adbomens, then stuffed them with cottons. So my de-greased & stuffed aenetus moths did not became greasy, and look good as for alive moths.

[Chris Grinter]

Ethanol will be fine - some of the hairs that aren't part of the body may float into the vial, but otherwise that's your best bet. From my perspective you want to keep the internal structures, especially since this isn't exactly a stunning caterpillar worth "stuffing".

To keep from discoloring, place the larva into a vial of water and boil that vial for 1-2 minutes. Placing it into a smaller vial to boil keeps the turbulence down and will preserve fine hairs. If you're not worried about hairs skip the smaller vial and toss directly into boiling water for 1 minute. Remove the larva from the hot water as soon as possible (using tongs/forceps!). Soak in baths for 30min-1 hour each of 20%, 40%, 60% and then 80% Ethanol before transferring to a vial of 70% ethanol for permanent storage. The careful stepping up of Ethanol % helps diffuse ethanol into the tissues of the specimen.