I have recently extracted genomic DNA from some museum bees for sequencing, and from first look there appears to be some pollen DNA in the extract. I've had a Google but can't find anything solid... Is it possible to carefully remove exterior pollen from the bee without causing too much damage, prior to DNA extraction?
I imagine that for dry specimens simply putting the bee/sample close to an electrostatically charged rod or plate could remove most dusts and pollens which would end up on the charged surface
Yes, it is. I did this with Mellisodes by simply "brushing" the pollen off the corbiculae with a flat metal spatula. There were a few legs lost in this process as I began, so make sure to prepare for that (verify with the curator, etc.), but I did that a lot less as I got more practice. It also helps if you know exactly how much pollen you need and don't try to collect more than that.
For example, you can see in the pictured specimen that there are two very hefty corbiculae--it helps to have specimens like that if you are going to collect pollen, because then you can just take as much as you need, and you have the other corbicula if you need it.
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