Mounting small insects

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microman
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2017 2:16 pm

Mounting small insects

Post by microman »

So i was trying to mount these very small insects and i may have read it on the forums but i took a needle and some doublesided sticky tape. Touched the bugs wing or lower body and it stuck right on it. Much easier than trying to mount it by other means.

It was pretty cool to see a 2mm wasp, mini fly and other bugs in this size but i did not photo all. Was very hard to get good photo of some of them

Here is one that came out good. Bug in picture mayby 1.5mm. Tried to measure with ruler.


Image

Image

Pizzazz
Posts: 583
Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2013 7:39 pm

Post by Pizzazz »

Hey microman

I like it. I will have to try this on a small fly I have.

Results look great.

Thanks

Mike

Beatsy
Posts: 2105
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:10 am
Location: Malvern, UK

Post by Beatsy »

A tiny piece of double sided sticky, or even just a dot of glue on a cover slip works quite well too. With the insect stuck on it's side you can include all of it in the frame and rotate it a bit for better composition (subject to the body still hiding the sticky bit of course).

I haven't yet mastered this for the tiniest insects - but I hope to. The biggest problem is setting them (straightening legs etc) with no pin through to hold things steady. I've taken to holding them down on their backs with crossed pins (minutens) so I can pick and pull the legs straight(er), but I still can't reliably get them into "natural" positions with that technique. They need to dry with the legs physically held in position really. Still working on that part...

microman
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2017 2:16 pm

Post by microman »

Pizzazz wrote:Hey microman

I like it. I will have to try this on a small fly I have.

Results look great.

Thanks

Mike
Thanks, yeah you should try it !
Beatsy wrote:A tiny piece of double sided sticky, or even just a dot of glue on a cover slip works quite well too. With the insect stuck on it's side you can include all of it in the frame and rotate it a bit for better composition (subject to the body still hiding the sticky bit of course).

I haven't yet mastered this for the tiniest insects - but I hope to. The biggest problem is setting them (straightening legs etc) with no pin through to hold things steady. I've taken to holding them down on their backs with crossed pins (minutens) so I can pick and pull the legs straight(er), but I still can't reliably get them into "natural" positions with that technique. They need to dry with the legs physically held in position really. Still working on that part...
Your work is always impressive, thanks for sharing some techniques !
I dont think i am quite ready for micro manipulation yet but good to know for sure. :)

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