Credit: The Dragonfly Woman
Entomologists on Twitter got all excited last week when a tutorial for preserving insects in hand sanitizer was passed around. As a teacher and an entomologist who does a lot of aquatic insect outreach activities, I was very excited to learn about this method! Aquatic insects are typically stored in glass vials filled with alcohol, which unfortunately means the insects all sink to the bottom. It’s then really hard to position them so that you can see particular features. If you want a good look at the insect, you usually have to take it out of the vial and put it in a dish of alcohol. This all makes insects in vials hard to use in outreach activities. However, the hand sanitizer method featured photos of insects suspended in the middle of vials. No sinking to the bottom, no turning the vial over and over and over trying to get the insect flipped over just right to get a close look at a particular piece. They’re supposed to be durable too. I decided I had to try it – and it totally worked! READ ON FOR INSTRUCTIONS.
