Preservation of Soft Bodied Insects and Permanent Mounting
Preservation of Soft Bodied Insects and Permanent Mounting
Preservation of Soft Bodied Insects:
Soft bodied insect like aphids, jassids, thrips, midges, scales bugs and immature life stages of the pests are preserved in 70 75 % ethyl alcohol with little quantity of glycerin in small specimen tubes. The tubes are properly labeled giving details as specified in above Para No. c-i). These insects are also preserved in 5% formalin solution.
Permanent Mounting:
The very small insects are also preserved by mounting on permanent slides. Their various structures and stages are also studied by preserving them by this method. The insects to be preserved are boiled in 10% KOH solution for few minutes then they are to be passed through 20-100% alcohol series for dehydration and then mounted on cavity slides in Canada balsam.