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Post by trehopr1 on Nov 5, 2020 13:48:10 GMT -8
Johnnyboy, found your post very informative !
In an earlier post exoticimports also alluded to acetone excessively removing all resident moisture in the wings thus causing the wing curling issue. Your comments fortify his solid ideas.
Thank you both for your insights. I know I will never try acetone again for degreasing. The toulene mentioned sounds promising !
I honestly could not tell if the acetone had affected the colors of my black witch moth specimen. My specimen was a male and as we all know it is almost entirely black; whereas the females have that light colored zigzag banding on their wings which would have served as a more telltale sign of color loss...
Love this thread, there is much to be learned from various members experiences (good or bad).
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Post by trehopr1 on Nov 5, 2020 14:00:58 GMT -8
Olivier, I would definitely hold off on doing anything with that prize Agrias (female) that you have...
Even though you made a good point of the Agrias having thicker strong wings I think I can honestly say the wing tips would (no less no doubt) likely curl upward on you at the least; and perhaps all along the margin of the four and hind wings using any acetone.
Also Johnnyboy reports a possible dulling of some colors and that would be horrendous on an Agrias !
After reading of exoticimports latest post I would hesitate immersing anything that expensive in alcohol.
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Post by gaspipe on Nov 5, 2020 15:00:24 GMT -8
I put some older pinned S .diana females with heavily greased wings ( so dark you couldn’t see the blue on the hind wings ) in acetone and ended up leaving them submersed for 2 days by mistake . I thought I had ruined them . After removal and placing on a paper towel the acetone quickly evaporated they looked fantastic. It was amazing. And I pulled the pin and put them in a Riker Mount and the wings had no curling after I took them out .
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Post by exoticimports on Nov 6, 2020 6:18:40 GMT -8
Alcohol bath experiment post above updated with photos.
Chuck
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Post by wollastoni on Nov 6, 2020 6:36:56 GMT -8
Very useful topic indeed.
When the new InsectNet core site will be ready, I will post a summary with some guidelines.
Olivier
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Post by 58chevy on Nov 6, 2020 8:02:16 GMT -8
I have had great results using acetone. To prevent wingtips from curling up, put the specimen back on the spreading board immediately after removing it from the acetone. Then pin the wings down or weight them down with microscope slides until they're dry.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2020 17:37:21 GMT -8
It’s acetone for me too. I do use multiple baths depending on how much grease there is. Each bath is cleaner than the last.
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Post by exoticimports on Nov 7, 2020 5:04:05 GMT -8
Just thinking, when I put greasy raw bacon on the George Foreman grill, all the grease drips off.
I wonder if I can do the same with moths.
Chuck
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Nov 7, 2020 5:50:01 GMT -8
Do not forget the Bacon and Lettuce.
And what ever, do not forget the Baked Beans.
Remove the grease from your specimens while killing off every living organisms within a 10 mile radius of your collection.
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Post by exoticimports on Nov 7, 2020 6:25:57 GMT -8
Update on my Saturnid experiment: I tried to push a pin through and the bottom of the thorax just disappeared, crumbled.
Sucks because it's one of two specimens I have of that ssp.
Chuck
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Post by nomihoudai on Nov 7, 2020 9:30:37 GMT -8
There is multiple chemical solvents one can use for degreasing specimen.
- alcohols
- acetone
- toluene
- white spirit <--
- turpentine
I have found white spirit to have the least negative effect on my specimen. Acetone works well, but it can darken specimens. All of these liquids are pretty heavy and can bend wings during the drying process and hair will stick together when not using some sort of hair dryer or fan to dry the specimen. Some of these compounds can have negative effects on your health. Personally, I would not use toluene for this reason.
And to answer the original question. It depends on the specimen. Between some hours and a day or two.
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Post by trehopr1 on Nov 7, 2020 11:00:52 GMT -8
I think after reading all these posts I'll just pass on ever bothering to "salvage" anything...
If its common or replaceable at low cost I'll just toss it; they are a renewable resource !
If something pricy goes oily or greasy I'll just pass it along (at reduced value) to someone that will take-up the bother of salvage.
I've overall been pretty lucky thus far all these years to have only had a few select saturniids (by and large) succumb to greasing...
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Post by Paul K on Nov 7, 2020 11:27:57 GMT -8
I always use acetone and never have any issues.
I deep all specimen and if too much oil is coming out of abdomen I do few baths in new acetone.
After the acetone evaporate I immediately place specimen in relaxing box for a day and spread it so there are never curled up wings and at the same time if some scales/hairs are stick together I try gently to brush them.
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