Using The Freeze-Dry Technique To Enhance Preservation Of Insect Larvae

Some important reasons for collecting and preserving insect larvae are: (1) for teaching and research purposes, (2) for use as reference collections (of economically important species) in insect control work, (3) for museum collections, which document insect fauna of specific regions, and (4) for aesthetic purposes, including their sale by business enterprises. Insect larvae are generally preserved in vials using one of several different liquid chemical preparations. Consequently, they often lose much of their natural appearance after being in a liquid preservative for some time. The freeze-dry technique dries and preserves insect larvae through the sublimation of body water at -20° to -30°C while in a vacuum. The freezedryer unit used was a new benchtop 115v Yamato DC41 model. The 115v vacuum pump (model B-2) was built by Marva Scientific Manufacturing Company. This investigation illustrates specific examples of insect larvae that have been successfully preserved using the freeze-dry technique and the specific procedures used. The advantage of this technique is that there is very little body color loss or structural distortion as a result of preservation. It also provides for ease of handling and inspection of specimens.