Stunning Butterflies

[Khalid Fadil]

I noticed some collectors have this special technique which they use on lepidoptera. Once they've caught the insect, they seem to just hold it by the body for a few seconds and then its just stunned. This amazes me every time.

I've checked with friends and they all say its to stun the insect to avoid any damage occurring. They say I have to pinch the insect at the bottom of the thorax to do so. I've tried this countless times without success. I either crush it or nothing happens.

Could someone please explain to me in utmost detail how this magic trick works?

[Adam Cotton]

Pinching is the normal way to kill butterflies while collecting. As soon as it is pinched it can go straight into the envelope, where it will sit safely until needed. Of course the butterfly does not die instantly, rather pinching immobilizes it, but it will usually die very soon afterwards.

Hold the specimen (through the net cloth with wings closed) between thumb and forefinger, and just press the thumb and finger together until you feel something rupture. Usually just a light pinch will kill the butterfly, but beware that some butterflies are 'pinch resistant' and can recover and even fly away. This is especially the case with Danaiinae and Troidini.

When you pick up the butterfly inside the net to pinch it you should be careful not to touch the wings, and similarly when you put it in the envelope after it has been killed. You will pick up the technique with practise and experience, good luck!

One tip: when you pick up a freshly pinched butterfly, do not pick it up by the legs as they may break off. One way to lift it up in your fingers without damage is to gently grab one or both antennae, lift up the butterfly and then use the thumb and forefinger of your other hand to hold the butterfly in the same place you pinched it, the thorax near the base of the wings. This point is the best place to hold a butterfly, whether freshly killed or dried.

Adam.

[papilio28570]

Press the thumb and forefinger together is a sudden, quick motion. I grasp the insect at mid thorax just below the wings. I generally follow this with an injection of a small amount of ammonia which instantly kills them.

[Deleted]

For me, pinching is good, but it is done merely to immobilize the specimen and keep it from fluttering its wings. I (with all due respect to those who differ) kill the specimen with ethyl acetate(jar) or isopropyl alcohol(injection) right after pinching.

I do this for two reasons. First, I have seen butterflies "come-back-to-life" in the envelope and move around rubbing scales off and even bending/breaking tails due to the confines of the envelope.
Second, I am a believer in killing instantly and not allowing taken specimens to just die whenever. I am not knocking other people's ways, but merely expressing mine.

I have found that killing them with pinching really seems to over-due the thoradic squeezing as I see it. One squeezes enough to prevent the wings from flapping and that is all. I remember one time when I caught my first diana. I was shaking with the thrill and knew that I could have easily slipped or over squeezed it simply because I was excited. So.....I pinched it enough to stop the wings from beating, took a breath or two, then calmly dispatched it without incident. One can easily be shaking and actually 'pop' the specimen out of the hand while trying to pinch it while shaking at the same time.

One will develop this skill with years of practice. Start practicing and before long you'll have your own preferred techniques for dispatching/immobilizing leps.

Lastly, like any field of study, there are people with different viewpoints and all. I surely respect those who replied/posted before me and am thus illustrating diversity in this hobby...and not professing to 'have all the answers'.

Respectfully,

[wollastoni]

I agree with Bill. I also pinch to immobilize, not to kill.

When you pinch too strongly, especially with small leps, you might have problem when you spread them (some wings might go down) because you break some muscles.

So I pinch to immobilize and then I put them in a cyanide box.

+ if specimens are not really dead (that might happen with pinching only), they do not dry in the enveloppe ... and you get more moisture in tropical climate.

[lepidofrance]

in wet tropical areas, you have to take care about moisture and also against ants !

Not so easy : if the box containing envelopes with glassine is closed: no ants but mold. If it is not closed and the air passes: no mold but ants!

I use pinching before setting the sample in the glassine paper and keeping the whole in a cyanid killing jar (back in the camp). As said by A. Cotton, Troides are pinching resistant and cyanid resistant (like many Acraidae).

[goat]

I tried this method with beautiful dark specimen of polygonia c-album, worked perfectly.


Sorry for my English, I am using a translator

[papilio28570]

That is a really good translator. Which program is it and what is your native language?

[goat]

I sometimes use a google translator, actually it works very good, this time i just help myself with translator because my english is better now. My native language is polish