Nipping lepidoptera?

[rob158]

Hi,
Ive heard of people nipping to kill them by sqeezing their sides. I tryed nipping a moth but this didn't have any affect, I then tryed again on another moth. I sqeezed its sides for two mins but it seemed to just stun it then it came back around. am I doing it wrong or does it not work on moths?

thanks,
Robert.

[Deleted]

Robert, I have been nipping butterflies for years with no damage at all, this is fine for European butterflies but for larger exotics and most moths it only results in catastrophy as they are far too robust for this treatment. For these you will need a killing jar and killing fluid, also such butterflies as danaus plexippus soon recover from a nip so these need a jar too.

[nomihoudai]

What Dunc said. If you try to kill a moth by pinching you rather end up with moth mash For butterflies it works great and I only use that method. After you pinched them and return home you nevertheless should freeze the butterflies as pinching does not kill them but only immobilize them as far as I know. The butterfly brain is divided in two parts, the one for movement is located in the thorax and that is the part you damage, thus immobilize the specimen.

[reddogantiques]

Greetings. First of all, I sincerely aplogize for highjacking this thread. I am a recent member. I cannot for the life of me, find the link/header anywhere on this site to post a new message/new thread. Can anyone enlighten me? Once again, I am sorry for posting this inquiry here. Many Thanks, Paul

[rob158]

Thanks for the replys.

Mar 12, 2012 10:56:10 GMT -8 reddogantiques said:

Greetings. First of all, I sincerely aplogize for highjacking this thread. I am a recent member. I cannot for the life of me, find the link/header anywhere on this site to post a new message/new thread. Can anyone enlighten me? Once again, I am sorry for posting this inquiry here. Many Thanks, Paul

Hi,
See below.

First click on the name of the forum you want to post in.



Then click New Thread at the right hand side of the screen.


Write what you want to put then click Post Message at the bottom.

Capture 3 by Robert wright., on Flickr

[papilio28570]

Be sure you are logged in also.

[Khalid Fadil]

I nip everything... ;D Never had a problem... ;D Just look at my 'Fraser's Hill' threads... ;D

[Deleted]

it is quite easy with practice to nip a butterfly in the wings closed position and then they can be tranfered into paper envelopes in the field, thus reducing the amount of equipment that needs to be carried, as Claude quite rightly said earlier the specimens can but put in the freezer when you get home, not many moths can be nipped in the wings closed position and this is a massive problem if you are after undamaged specimens, it is impossible to kill them in this way without causing some kind of damage, best to use a killing jar for these.

[Khalid Fadil]

When it comes to moths, I usually just press them against whatever surface they're on at the thorax. Basically, I nip them with their wings spread. Its either that or I use a cyanide jar, but its MIA at the moment...

[Deleted]

I know what you mean but moths have very fury bodies which will lose most of that fur when compressed in this way so there will be some damage, maybe not to the wings but I prefer moths untouched by my hands so all of the body, fur and all is preserved

[nomihoudai]

Also the body will look like a total mess later when mounted and the wings not symmetric anymore because the wing bases are at different places, lol

[Deleted]

Just to illustrate the merits/problems with nipping, this is nymphalis polychloris that I bred last year, all the specimens that I dispatched were nipped causing no damage at all.

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[Deleted]

and on the down side here is a specimen of catocala sponsa, the body would have lost its shape and fury appearance by nipping and the wings would be scued upon setting, I would only kill something like this using killing fluid.

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[thanos]

The above advices are correct, but what you are doing if one fine night you're walking in the centre of your town and suddenly -without having any ento-stuff with you- you see for the first time in your life in front of you Mormo maura (very recent migration here!) or Ophiusa tirhaca ,-like it happened to me a couple of years ago- ?? Then, you grab it, you pinch it as carefully as you can and..you have it ! Better than loosing it ! Even with some damage. But one time, while again walking in the centre of my town, I saw a perfect Mormo maura inside a shop window ! I left as I couldn't catch it, I didn't sleep all night, and went out of this shop again very early in the morning, waiting for the owner to open it ! Hehe..,the maura was still there, and a nice woman came there with keys to open the shop ! I explained her what I'd like to do, and she smiled to me and allowed me come inside and catch it -I had with me a jar, so cought it inside it, keeping its perfect condition with all the fur .

Thanos

[saturniidave]

An American friend of mine kills moths in the field by using a syringe and alcohol. He fills the syringe and injects a little into the moths where they sit, death is almost instantaneous. I have watched him at work when he came here a few years back and he even injects small Geometers, all with no damage at all.