[Odonata-l] managing a small ode collection?

[Bob Glotzhober]

Chris:
For adults in Odonata envelopes, I recommend to our volunteers the soft,
plastic "shoebox" type containers made by Rubbermaid and several other
companies. You can find a variety of these in grocery stores and
department stores and even places like Lowe's and Home Depot. Pick a
size convenient to you. They are "almost" air tight. 

Instead of moth balls (which are only a repellant) I recommend to our
volunteers getting a cat flea collar and cutting it into small strips.
Place a strip into a container such as a plastic 35mm film canister,
with several holes punched into the sides with a paper punch. Put a note
on your container as to when the flea collar was last changed, so you
can replace them every 6 months or so. I have recently been told that
this practice is in violation of the label use. However, I figure flea
collars are safe for cats and dogs around the home, and they kill
insects, not just repel them. I know you do NOT want to wrap a flea
collar around bare skin (i.e. keep ticks off your legs) as they will
cause a rash in contact to skin. But if they are safe in your home on
your pet, these seems like a reasonable use. Proceed at your own risk!
The container is because as flea collars age, they may begin to leak
greasy oils that can stain envelopes and other boxes, and attract dirt.
You don't want a two-year old collar in contact with anything!

Ken Tennessen can probably give you the best, up to the moment advise on
exuvia and larvae. As I recall (and what I do), he recommends ethanol
for both. He told me that in field, dip the exuvia in water briefly so
it does not break brittle legs etc, and then use film canisters. Later
transfer to whatever bottle size is good for you and replace the water
with ethanol. My practice is to always drain off the ethanol after a few
days and add fresh, so that any water still on the exuvia gets thrown
out with the first ethanol, and the final solution is full strength. (I
generally use 75% -- but was advised by the HED folks to use 90% to
better retain DNA.)

I have preserved some exuvia dry in an Odonate envelope with the adult,
(or in a separate, attached envelope), cushioning the edges with a small
plastic bubble or other soft but firm fill that keeps it from getting
crushed. I think Carl Cook showed me that trick.

Hope this helps.
Bob

====================
Robert C. Glotzhober             614/ 298-2054
Senior Curator, Natural History         bglotzhober at ohiohistory.org
Ohio Historical Society         Fax: 614/ 297-2546
1982 Velma Avenue
Columbus, Ohio  43211-2497
 
Visit the website of the Ohio Historical Society at:
  www.ohiohistory.org and check out our online collections catalog.
See or purchase Dragonflies and Damselflies of Ohio or the Cedar Bog
Symposium II at OHS's new E-Store:  http://www.ohiohistorystore.com/ 
Visit the Ohio Odonata website at:
http://www.marietta.edu/~odonata/index.html
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: odonata-l-bounces at listhost.ups.edu
[mailto:odonata-l-bounces at listhost.ups.edu] On Behalf Of Chris Hill
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 11:26 AM
To: odonata-l
Subject: [Odonata-l] managing a small ode collection?

I have a small personal collection (a couple hundred adults, a couple  
dozen larvae, maybe 50 exuviae.  I started out just keeping vouchers  
of new county records, but I've discovered how useful it is to have  
some reference material of various species, so the collection is  
growing a bit.  I've been keeping the adults in clear poly envelopes  
in a two-drawer metal library card file.  I like the card file.   
Although it's not airtight, I haven't had any bug issues (I usually  
have mothballs in there), and just pulling out a drawer is convenient  
(inside, species are alphabetical within family or genus, with  
"divider" cards to mark each family or genus).  But I'm outgrowing it,  
and there's quite a bit of breakage that happens.  I just started  
keeping the exuviae, and I've got them in some small jars and vials.

How much breakage of adults is normal?  Seems like about 10% of the  
darners are broken (just looked).

Shoe boxes don't seem very elegant - does anyone have suggestions for  
how to store a small but growing collection like this?  I'm tempted to  
get a larger card catalog if I can find one on ebay for the right price.

How do people store exuviae?  Jars?  Envelopes?  Dry or wet?  A dry  
Gomphus exilis exuvia will fit in a small "shell vial," but there's no  
squashing a Macromia into anything small.

Happy for any tips.

Chris


************************************************************************
Christopher E. Hill
Biology Department
Coastal Carolina University
Conway, SC 29528-1954
chill AT coastal.edu
http://ww2.coastal.edu/chill/chill.htm
  
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