pin mounted british insects

[whaleomeloette]

Could you possibly post decent sized photographs of british pin mouned insects, yours or otherwise?
m finding it quite hard to find relevent images online; google tends to bring to random rubbish these days, bing is slightly better but still having no luck.

iv just done a dead bee i found tangled in spider web
its the first one iv done but ill post images once its dry and hard.

quite funny
i went for my early morning walk (5.30) and saw this bee on my fave budllia bush and tried to photo without disturbing it' but my dog wouldnt stay quiet and still so i left it be (no pun intended!)
next day i come back and its still there... obviously dead! so my tip toeing around it for 5 mins was slightly pointless

[JRsbugs]

Take a look at BWARS for a start, not all are there but you will find most commons ones.

Bees are not easy, but with a lot of looking you can learn to recognise some.

Janet

[whaleomeloette]

Originally Posted by JRsbugs

Take a look at BWARS for a start, not all are there but you will find most commons ones.

Bees are not easy, but with a lot of looking you can learn to recognise some.

Janet

iv come to the conclusion is a bombus terrestris, when its dry(and iv stuck its head back on) ill post photos for confirmation, i used this site:
Bumblebee identification page - learn how to identify the UK's bumblebees
thanks for the link!

[Jason Green]

Afternoon Whale,

*Below are images of pinned specimens retained for scientific/conservational reasoning*

I use strands of copper wire (diameter of c0.5mm), and glue this to the ventral surface of the thorax (first-off checking the key to the species, and re-adjusting the location of the of it's siting if I need to see something there). I then use hand-made stands about 15mm-square to secure it to on an upright of about 10mm. It does work, but I'll be getting into proper pinning soon.

Right, below is a Mason Wasp (Vespidae; Eumeninae). The species is Odynerus spinipes, and couldn't have been identified from a field-photo as there are simply too many subtle variables. One individual taken during a process I use that I call 'site-sampling'.

The three classic views of the specimen:

Dorsal, lateral and anterior

Notes on the relevant identification process:
The characters involved looking at fine hairs, mandibles, lower-margins of the clypeus, pilosity of the mesoscutum, relative ratios - and that isn't even the half of it!! The process took about 90mins of very close examination. I got to the stage where I needed to look at the mandibles. The specimen had hardened and when I tried opening them the head broke off (see image 1, below). Not to worry too much - it happens, and the most important consideration when pinning is to keep a specimen safe, and identifiable - not necessarily pretty! I glued the head to the stand posteriorly, and tried to open the jaws again - this time it broke off. I secured it to the stand again (see image 2, below), and this confirmed it's shape as being correct for this particular couplet as it lacks a deep notch between the first and second tooth (see image 3, below). Off I went to the next and eventually got to the species - O. spinipes.

Stand images after re-mounting

Stand, re-mounted head+mandibles, and focus on mandible shape

I'll try and sort out another set of one where genitals come into it, but I'm in a rush now so it'll have to wait until later.

What pin did you use, WO? I'll look forward to other AE/PEs reports/images to follow - we have several such people on WAB!

Take care,

Jason

[whaleomeloette]

'I use strands of copper wire (diameter of c0.5mm), and glue this to the ventral surface of the thorax (first-off checking the key to the species, and re-adjusting the location of the of it's siting if I need to see something there). I then use hand-made stands about 15mm-square to secure it to on an upright of about 10mm. It does work, but I'll be getting into proper pinning soon.''

afternoon! feels like late evening to me, my sleeping is all to buggery!

i like the copper idea, no distracting pin heads in the way!

''What pin did you use, WO?''

i just used a very thin safety pin cut off to be just a thin needle
i was going to use an extremely thin sewing needle but i i sort of needed that!

i found 2 of your threads yday for your first few pinnings,
i think they were yours.. i might have gotten mixed up
but yeah i look forward to seeing other folks insects

[whaleomeloette]

my first ever ever mount! how did i do? photos arent very flattering to it unfortunately, i only have my mobilephone to photo with

[hachidori]

Have you tried going onto the flickr website and doing a search for the species you are after? There are lots of hymenoptera on there.

[whaleomeloette]

Originally Posted by hachidori

Have you tried going onto the flickr website and doing a search for the species you are after? There are lots of hymenoptera on there.

i searched pin mounted on there before, what should i search?

[whaleomeloette]

now it has its head!

[Jason Green]

Very nice job, WO! (Sorry, what's your name if you don't mind? )

I must say, you've done a good job finding an already-dead insect that has it's legs stretched; you usually see them with their legs tightly crossed over each-other and held underneath and the wings closed over their back and obscuring a lot.

Do you have a microscope? This'll be essential when it comes to taking/collecting voucher specimens and keying them out.