Welcome to the fascinating world of insects! Today, we’re going to learn how to pin insects, a technique used by scientists to study and preserve these amazing creatures. Our guide is Gracen, a research assistant who works with Corrie Moreau, an expert in the field. Let’s dive into the process and learn some cool facts along the way!
Gracen shared a fun story from her time collecting insects in Sweden. She was on a mission to find dung beetles, which meant digging through horse dung. The horses were very curious and wouldn’t leave her alone, even sniffing her hair! This shows that you can find insects in all sorts of places, from rotting logs to grassy fields.
Today, we have a variety of insects to work with: a cicada from an orchard in Ohio, a tiger beetle from Hong Kong, and a mantid from Equatorial Guinea. These insects have been kept in jars of alcohol, keeping them hydrated and ready for pinning.
If you find a dried insect in your backyard, don’t worry! You can rehydrate it using a simple method. Place the insect in a container with a piece of foam, pour hot water in, and close the lid. This creates a sauna effect, relaxing the insect’s tissues so you can move its legs and wings.
Before you start pinning, gather these supplies: a piece of foam to pin the insect to, insect pins, forceps, vellum for wing pinning, scissors, and labels. The labels are important for noting where and when you found the insect, which can be useful for research.
Start by using forceps to straighten the insect’s legs. Most insects have three sets of legs: the front set goes forward, and the other two sets aim backward. Next, insert a pin through the upper right-hand part of the thorax, the middle section of the insect’s body.
Spreading the wings allows you to see their structure and patterns. If you don’t want to put a hole in the wings, use vellum to hold them in place. Vellum is see-through, so you can still observe the wings without damaging them.
Cicadas are fascinating insects with a unique life cycle. Some species live underground for 13 or 17 years, feeding on tree roots. When they emerge, they create a loud noise to attract mates. This long life cycle and their loud calls make cicadas truly remarkable.
Thanks to Gracen, we’ve learned how to pin insects and discovered some amazing facts about them. Whether you’re collecting insects in your backyard or learning about their life cycles, there’s always something new to discover in the world of insects. Happy exploring!
Embark on a mini-adventure in your backyard or local park to collect insects. Use a magnifying glass and a notebook to document the different types of insects you find. Note their colors, sizes, and where you found them. This activity will help you understand the diversity of insects in your area.
Find a dried insect and try the rehydration method described in the article. Use a container, foam, and hot water to create a sauna effect. Observe how the insect’s body becomes more flexible, allowing you to gently move its legs and wings. This experiment will teach you about insect anatomy and preservation techniques.
Gather the necessary tools and practice pinning an insect. Use forceps to position the legs and insert a pin through the thorax. Try using vellum to spread the wings without damaging them. This hands-on activity will give you a better understanding of the pinning process used by scientists.
Choose an insect, like the cicada, and research its life cycle. Create a poster or presentation to share with the class, highlighting interesting facts such as their underground life and mating calls. This research will deepen your knowledge of insect biology and ecology.
Work in pairs to create a set of insect flashcards. Each card should have a picture of an insect on one side and its name and a fun fact on the other. Use these cards to quiz each other and see who can identify the most insects. This game will help you learn to recognize different insect species and remember key facts about them.
Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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That’s not a mantid. – Yes, it is! – No, that one? – Yes! – Really? – No. – Oh, come on!
Hey! We’re here with Gracen today, who’s a research assistant for Corrie Moreau, whom you may remember from the Romantic Ants episode. Today, we’re going to show you how to pin an insect. – Yes! – Do you have any fun stories from collecting in the field?
– One of the most magical experiences I had was in Sweden where I was collecting dung beetles. You can find insects anywhere, from digging in rotting logs to just mantids hanging out on branches or grass. I went out with a friend collecting in horse dung. We found a bunch of horses in a field and were digging through their waste, but the horses were really curious about us and wouldn’t leave us alone. One horse kept sniffing through my hair the whole time. It was kind of awesome. – It’s like, “Horse, please!”
That was a joke. – That was okay. – All right.
We have all these different kinds of insects today: a cicada, a mantid, and a tiger beetle. But where did they all come from?
– The cicadas came from an orchard in Ohio. The tiger beetles are mostly from Hong Kong, although you can find them all over the place. The mantids are from Equatorial Guinea. – Oh wow! – Yes.
So we’re going to be pinning insects that are coming from jars of alcohol, so they’re already well-hydrated. But what if someone finds a dead insect in their neighborhood or backyard that they’d like to pin or preserve, but it’s all dried up? How would they go about doing that?
– Pinning a dried insect is pretty challenging because they’re brittle, but you can rehydrate or relax them. This can happen in any sort of container. I usually find a Tupperware, place a piece of foam to keep the specimen elevated, pour really hot water in there, and then shut the lid. It creates a sauna effect for the insect, which relaxes the tissues and rehydrates them so you can move the legs and wings around again.
– So maybe a grasshopper could sit in there for a day or two and then it would be ready to go? – Yes. You can keep replenishing the hot water to maintain warmth and steam.
– Okay, we’ve talked a little about how we get the insects and their state when we’re ready to pin them, but before we can do that, we need to know what supplies we’re going to use.
– Well, first off and most importantly, you need something to pin the insect to while it dries. Here we have a piece of foam, which I prefer. We have insect pins, specifically made for insects, which work as a handle so you don’t have to touch the specimen directly. Two pairs of forceps are useful; you can probably get away with one. We also have a little bit of vellum for pinning out wings if you don’t want to put a hole through them, some scissors, and labels to note where and when the specimen was collected. You always keep that information with the specimen itself.
– So someone, hypothetically, doing this as an amateur in their backyard, if they wrote down the date and location, maybe include some geographic information and conditions in which the specimen was collected, that could eventually be used for research? – Yes, absolutely. – That’s great!
– Oh, look at him! – Yes. – It kind of smells sweet. – Really? – Yes, I just got a syrupy smell. No, that’s not right. They don’t smell like that.
– The first thing I do is use a pair of forceps to straighten out the legs. With most types of insects, the front set of legs goes forward. – It’s like bench pressing. – The second and third sets aim a little bit behind. The next step after getting the legs settled is to get the pin through it. All insects are roughly made up of the same sections: the head, the thorax (where all the legs come off), and then the abdomen. For almost all insects, you want the pin to go through the upper right-hand part of the thorax.
– Cool. – Like that? – Yes. I use a decent number of pins when pinning an insect. Some people are more particular about the legs being symmetrical.
– What would be the benefit of spreading those legs out or the wings? – The wings? – Yes. – So you can see all the wing venation and the morphology of the wings. The next step would be spreading the wings. The wing is sturdy and won’t rip. But if you don’t want to put a hole through it, you can use your forceps to pull that wing out.
– Like that? – Yes! – Well, there it is! Wow. – Cool. You can do it without putting a pin through the wing, using this vellum. We use vellum because you can see through it, so you can see what the wings look like underneath, and then you don’t have to put a hole through the wing.
– Be careful when you grab the legs. This part of the leg is the tarsi. – Okay. – And it’s pretty fragile. That’s the part that usually breaks.
– Good! Yay! Well, we did it! I love their chubby little bodies. – The cicadas? – Yes, they’re wonderful. – Yes, they’re sturdy little insects.
– I really like cicadas because they were the first insect I thought about that had a lifespan longer than a few months. Certain species of cicadas are on a 13- or 17-year cycle, spending that time underground, living off the roots of various trees, and then they all emerge for a few weeks to breed, creating a cacophonous sound. That’s a way to get a mate’s attention, right? – Yes. – Pretty cool.
Well, thank you so much, Gracen, for showing me how to pin an insect. It was my first time, and I had a good time. – You did a great job! – Thanks! I feel good that I contributed to science today.
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This version removes informal language and any potentially inappropriate or confusing phrases while maintaining the essence of the conversation.
Insects – Small arthropods with six legs and usually one or two pairs of wings. – Insects play a crucial role in pollinating plants and decomposing organic matter.
Collecting – The act of gathering specimens for study or analysis. – Scientists are collecting samples of soil to study the effects of pollution on local ecosystems.
Rehydrate – To restore moisture to something that has dried out. – Before examining the dried plant specimens, the botanist needed to rehydrate them.
Pinning – The process of attaching insects to a board for display or study. – After catching the butterfly, the student carefully began pinning it to preserve its wings for the science project.
Cicadas – Large insects known for their distinctive sound, often heard during the summer months. – The loud buzzing of cicadas filled the air as we walked through the forest.
Beetles – A group of insects with hard wing cases, making them one of the most diverse groups of animals. – Beetles can be found in nearly every habitat, from forests to deserts.
Tools – Instruments or devices used to perform tasks or conduct experiments. – The biologist used various tools, like magnifying glasses and tweezers, to study the insects closely.
Wings – Paired appendages that enable insects and some other animals to fly. – The dragonfly’s transparent wings shimmered in the sunlight as it darted over the pond.
Research – The systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources to establish facts and reach new conclusions. – The students conducted research on how pollution affects marine life in their local river.
Life Cycle – The series of stages through which a living organism passes from the beginning of its life until its death. – Understanding the life cycle of a frog helps us learn how it transforms from a tadpole into an adult frog.
