How to Make an Insect Collection

Collecting insects and learning to identify them can be a fun and educational activity that anyone can do!  You can learn much more about them by collecting and handling them than by reading about them in books.  You may decide to catch and release the insects or you may want to make a collection of preserved specimens.  In either case, remember to treat each insect with respect and limit your catch.

*Photo 1: Insect collection*

Basic equipment needed is an insect net, a jar, tweezers, insect pins, a box with a Styrofoam bottom to pin the specimens, and labels to indicate where and when each was collected.  Insect field guides, which can be found in most book stores and libraries, can help to identify them, usually down to what family they are in.  There are over 1 million species of insects and identifying them down to species is a very big challenge.

No matter where you live or what you do, you will be able to find insects.  They live in just about every habitat on earth.  There are a few different ways to catch them.  Using an insect net to brush along grass, bushes, or in tree branches is the simplest way.  Also look under rocks and logs, replacing them as they were when you’re done.  You can spread a white sheet under a shrub and then shake the branches vigorously.  When disturbed, many insects will feign death and fall to the ground.  At night, a white sheet can also be hung by a porch light.  Many insects navigate by the moon and get confused by bright lights and fly towards them instead.  Many different kinds, especially moths, will land on the sheet. 

Tweezers can be used to pick up the insects from the sheet and placed in a jar.  Before killing them, it is important to identify what the insect is, since there are endangered insects in most parts of our country.  If the insect is endangered or protected, let it go immediately.  To kill an insect you can legally preserve, put alcohol or nail polish remover on a cotton ball and place it in the jar with the insects for about 20 minutes.  After you have finished collecting for the day, it is wise to go ahead and put them on insect pins.  Don't wait until the next day because the insects may become dry and brittle, and parts of the insect may break off when you try to pin them.  It is best to use special insect pins, No. 2 or No. 3 size, which can be bought online from websites like bioquip.com, compleatnaturalist.com, or educationalscience.com. Also special insect display cases can be found there as well.  However, a simple shoe box with a Styrofoam board on the bottom works well for amateur collectors.

Gently run the pin through the thorax (middle segment) of the insect a little to the right of the midline of the body.

 

*Photo 2: Top view of stink bug with correct location of pin circled in blue*

Leave about 1/4-inch of the pin visible above the insect allowing enough room to pick it up without touching the insect. This will also leave enough room on the pin under the insect to add labels.

*Photo 3: Side view of Japanese beetle with labels*

*Photo 4: Side view of grasshopper with labels*

Soft-bodied insects such as aphids, caterpillars and aquatic larvae can go into a vial filled with 70-75% alcohol.  The vial can be pinned in place on the Styrofoam board on the bottom of your box.  The label can be pinned next to it.

*Photo 4: Vial with dobsonfly larva*

The first label you can add under each insect is the location the insect was caught, the date caught and the name of the collector.  This can be typed in a very small font like Times New Roman size 6 or 7, printed on index cards or cardstock and cut out.  The second label to add is the family name of the insect that you determined using your field guide.  If you don’t want to go that far in identifying, you can determine which order the insect is in (recall from science class that there are 7 ranks in the organization of naming living things: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species).  There are only 32 orders of insects whereas there are around 600 different families to choose from!  Arrange the insects in your box in separate sections for the different orders you identified.  One label for each order can be made and put above each section.

*Photo 5: Notice black thread separating the different orders of insects*

If you are concerned about killing insects for your collection, remember this: insects often have short life spans and reproduce quickly, so collecting adult insects will have very little impact on the population as a whole.  Just don’t collect more insects than you need, and be sure to take time to label, arrange and store specimens correctly so there are good records for future generations to use. 

Submitted by Sara Oliver, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist