Why do some papered specimens smell so bad?

[jf]

I've bought several papered specimens through the years and I can recall some of them had a funny smell.

[jhyatt]

Well, they are after all dead animals... I sometimes get a distinct rotten odor out of some papered bugs. They're generally things from a wet area in the tropics; I suspect that the body contents decay before the insect had a chance to thoroughly dry. You have to be careful relaxing such specimens - often the body structure is weak and they relax very fast, and can fall apart with excessive moisturizing.
jh

[Deleted]

Moisture and damp can make papered material very smelly indeed.

[Adam Cotton]

Another possibility, as well as the semi-rotten specimens, is that some may smell of the rotten bait they were drinking when captured. Those can include rotten fish or shrimp and faeces. Presumably there is less likelihood of a bad smell resulting from fermented fruit bait. I would guess though that John Hyatt's explanation is the more common cause of awful smelling specimens.

Adam.

[LEPMAN]

Dec 23, 2018 9:28:33 GMT -8 jf said:

I've bought several papered specimens through the years and I can recall some of them had a funny smell.

Let’s not forget that a funny smell could also be due to the pest deterrents used.

[jf]

I don't usually buy specimens but I once bought a p. ulysses and blumei lot and they smelled awful. Yeah, I think they rot before even having a chance to dry.

[cabintom]

See, my first thought was pheremones. Is this not a possibility?

[Paul K]

Dec 24, 2018 20:08:47 GMT -8 cabintom said:

See, my first thought was pheremones. Is this not a possibility?

No, we can only detect our own females pheromones and we can not smell it , it effects our brain.
Therefore woman always win one way or the other, sorry to say that

[miguel]

I recently received a few Catocala from a moths trap sites in a vineyard,when I opened the box the moths smelled like grapes.

[leptraps]

Whenever I travel to collect specimen, they are killed and papered almost immediately. The envelopes with specimen are placed in Bio-Seal Containers and then into a cooler with ice. When I eventually return home the Bio-Seal Containers go directly into the Freezer. Over a period of time the freezer will completely dry out the specimens. Even after rehydration, there is no smell of decay.
I will admit that I do not collect many large bodied specimens (Saturnidae - Sphingidae) these days, but when do, they go into the Freezer first to insure that they are dead.

Proper handling of specimens will prevent the decay of specimen and the obnoxious odor that goes with decay. I go to all the effort to collect, preserve and storage of my specimen,I want them to look uniform in my collection. I have posted many photos of some of my specimens, even some of my drawers. That is how I process and maintain my collection.

My wife claims I am the best Butterfly "Undertaker" she knows. "I lay them out perfectly."

[Deleted]

I recently set some specimens from the 1960's which were African, I have never handled smellier specimens in my life, they wreaked, I feared the worst when I relaxed them that they would all disintegrate but luckily none did,but boy the stench.

[leptraps]

Some Lepidopterist and collector's who sell specimens do not properly manage and/or care for them. They do not dry them out prior to storage or not having the proper storage.

A friend of mine travels to South America every year or so to collect and has told me he has a difficult time drying out specimens. He takes a small amount of BPD to prevent mold and to help dry out his papered material in the field.

[jhyatt]

Nope, you're not smelling pheromones, Cabintom. Most moth pheromones are long-chain hydrocarbons (a few have additional functionality, esters or alcohols)having about 12-18 carbon atom length. Most human noses can't detect anything beyond about 7-8 carbons in length. They just aren't volatile enough for our rather insensitive noses to get enough of to detect.
jh

[cabintom]

I'm surprised that it's apparently not pheromones! I have collected male Bicyclus specimens that have exhibited a distinct scent. I asked a leading expert on the genus specifically in regards to B. mollitia and he confirmed that certain species exhibit certain scents. For example, he stated "sylvicolus smells strongly of vanilla and the cell-brush contains a huge peak of pure vanillin."

If these scents aren't pheromones, I wonder what they are? and what purpose they might serve?

[leptraps]

Some moths have distinctive smells, especially Arctidea, some Sphingids and Saturnid's.