Summary of Techniques for Alcohol Preservation
Boiling water (1 minute), then Kahle’s solution (1 week), then 70% Ethanol:
- Large, soft-bodied insects thicker than pencil
- Caterpillars, white grubs, maggots, larvae of bees and wasps.
First Kahle’s solution (1 week), then 70% Ethanol:
- Any mid-small sized, soft-bodied insect, adult or immature.
- Caterpillars, aphids, mealybugs, termites, leaf rollers, gall inhabitants, ant larvae, mosquito larvae
Straight into 70% Ethanol:
- Thrips, lice, springtails and other very small insects.
- Hard-bodied immatures such as the nymphs of grasshoppers and true bugs.
- Most aquatic immatures like dragonfly naiads, water pennies, hellgrammites, etc.
- NOTE: larger insects put directly into alcohol will turn black and not preserve as well.
DON’T FORGET THE LABEL:
- include a label in all vials, following these instructions.