I am currently collecting large amounts of caterpillars from the field on a daily basis. Because of the amount of work it represents and the limited time left to process the sample with more specific care, I for the moment store them in ethanol so they do not rot. Can I keep them long that way or should i give the sample more specific care in order to preserve the colors?
As for spcies-level identification, is there any alternative to expensive DNA bar coding for Lepidopteran larvae?
I believe that conservation in ethanol, for the long term, is the most convenient and appropriate method for your needs. As the conservation of various colors in larvae of Lepidoptera is problematic, some authors suggest the immersion of freshly-dead larvae in boiling water, for a few seconds, before passing them into ethanol: in this way the larva would be sterilized from the presence of internal microorganisms that can induce putrefactive phenomena, and the colors kept a bit less worse. I have never experienced this practice, however, so I can not guarantee its effectiveness. Regards,
Rinaldo Nicoli
The best method to conserve the colors of caterpillars is freeze-drying, but it is very labour-intensive. It would make sense for some particular specimen, but not for your lot of daily samples.
Literature: NIPPE, B.: Gefriertrocknung - eine neue Methode zur Präparation der Raupen. - Nachrichtenblatt der bayerischen Entomologen 12 (5): S. 44-48
A lot of caterpillars, but surely not all, may be identified to species-level by good photographs, so that you can reduce the nuber of expensive barcoding method.
Another established method for identifying the caterpillars to species-level is rearing until imago.
Which would be the best method depends on the species, perhaps you can find hints in literature!
Regards,
Rudolf Ritt
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