Wasp~

So? How is this bug? The posture is quite good. Natural enough~

Grey unknown bug....

Look at its legs, the back ones. It was lke a wow~

Yellow wasp....

I preserved this insect quite ideally. Look at the posture of the wasp; a masterpiece!! Hah! I learnt from my mistakes and experiences!!

Step-by-step of 'How to preserve insects'. no. 2

3# Then, dry it under the sun (in the picture. There are two insects in it though). So, what with the base (the white board thingy that the insects were pinned onto)? To dry the insects while mantaining the postures of the insects. Without such pinning while drying it, I cannot dry them with their parts' postures mantained. Therefore, go and get a board just for this purpose. What with the plastic shields? To prevent other bigger organisms (cats, rats and birds) from ruining my specimens. The rock? Come on, it is windy out there. And that is just a light plastic shield there!!

Lastly, how can we say that the specimen is ready to go?

First indication; Ants. Do not bother when ants are crawling around your bugs. They bring no harm. But when even ants are not fancy of your specimen anymore, your specimen is ready.

Second indication; Smell. Specimen that is ready smell good (in another word, no smell. If it is not ready, the specimen will stink. If that is the case, keep drying it under the sun.). Still, smelling good may not be a good indicator, where the specimen may not be totally dry.

Just playing safe, dry your specimen under the sun for at least 2 afternoons. The more the better. Just do not overdo it. Imagine your specimen being bleached~

If you found this helpful please comment!! TQ!!

Step-by-step of 'How to preserve insects'. no. 1

So, how to preserve insects? Well, for newbies, it will be a mess if no proper guide is obtained....

 I experienced it before.. Still, since I adopted this 'art' as my hobby, I practiced a lot on the matter of preserving insects. For the first few times, it was a total screwed up. Then, slowly I able to 'figure' it out. Ultimately, I am here sharing my experience step by step with pictures as guidances; I know that a lot of people out there unable to preserve insects properly due to lack of good guides on the internet. Hence, your savior is here!

1# Firstly, let the insect die (I suggest natural death, umm, like by hunger. Chloroform is like kinda messy and expensive) Then proceed to the next step straight away with the fresh specimen. DO NOT DRY IT UNDER THE SUN FIRST!! It will just harden the insect and hence you will be unable to 'mould' it easily.

2# Pin through the middle body (NOT THE ABDOMEN!!) and that will be the very pin that hold the specimen upright. Using pin, hold the parts of the specimen (wings, legs, head .etc)(in the picture) into the position as though that it is natural (not the dying sad posture!!).

continue in Step-by-step of 'How to preserve insects'. no. 2

Guides for finding the scientific names of insects

I am currently in form 6; upper six in fact. Hence, I did the insects/plants project during my lower six holiday. I enjoyed it but in the same time I were having headache that time. Reason? The scientific names. Getting the specimens were super easy but when came to finding their scientific names, it was like 'OMG! Like how is this possible?!'. After I finished the project, I only notice the flaws in the methods I used. Too late; but future project-doers are not. Therefore I like to share some of the tips and experienced I gained from the project.

Insects
This part is the most problematic. As you are needed to make or buy the case for displaying the insects; and in the same time catch, preserve and find the scientific names of the insects. Well, there are ways to reduce the hassles.

1. Firstly, get a network of allies, friends and helpers. The very first step is choosing your teammates. You cannot survive without an efficient team. Gang up with those who are obviously good, responsible and punctual. But of course, no humans are perfect but at least recruits the best. And later distribute your duties according to the person's expertise. Let say those who know how to jungle trekking will be assigned to lead the trip to a forest to hunt down some insects. Easy. Then, expand your network untill it include teachers and outsiders. Teachers may be kind enough to offer help like advice or unwanted wood for you all to construct a case. Outsiders are fairly important, like a forest ranger. It will be very handy when you all decided to visit a forest. Relatives and friends too are crucial. Like in my case, a part of my insects for my group were gathered by my relatives, friends and my dad. Hence, network is very important.
2. Next, manage your time. The very first in your to-do-list should be to build the display case as it will consume most of your time and effort. Plan well so punctuality and be achieved. Well, my group screwed up in this matter. Haha. Then, DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. Again, DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. You all do not have extra time to waste.
3. Then, learn how to preserve insects as soon as possible. This prevent wastage of specimens due to improper insects preservation.
4. Plan your possible sources of insects, let say shops, friends and ex-students (like me, I am happy to sell or surrender some of my collection if my friends request for them).This is very critical because insects in the wild will be very hard to obtain. Hence, get ready your backdoor ready just in case you screwed up. Insects in the wild will mostly small in size and not impressive. You may opt to buy some big and stunning insects to satisfy the teacher. Like in my case, I collected 25 insects and showed them to teacher, and you all know what she said? 'Are not all of them too small? Go and obtain some big one'. I am just speechless.
5. Plan what you need to catch. Like you may want 3 butterflys, 4 grasshppers and so on. Not important? Hah. Do not regret when your teacher reject your project because ALL your insects are from similiar group, as the project require you to have insects of various class. 
6. Now, about the scientific names. Firstly, the database online are mostly useless. What I did is that I search the images instead. Like, 'yellow moth with black wings' and search through its images. If one of them look similiar, then I will check the website the google obtained the image from has its scientific name or not. Some websites are obviously do not like photoes galleries. If the image is from a scientific website, your chance is bigger. Then I will image google the scientific name again. This is because I noticed that some of the scientific name given by a website may not be correct. Then, to ease your finding, initially you should fing insects that you are very familiar with like flies, bees, grasshppers and so on. If you manage to obtained a rare insect but in the end unable to find its name, it will be useless. Happened to me. Refer to my older posts and you will know.
7. Unlike plants, you cannot choose what insects to catch and hence based on luck. Finding the names is bloody problematic and weathers influece the abundance of insects greatly. Like for us, we been to a trip to a wood to catch some specimens. Missfortunely, it just rained in the night and hence the insects were hiding. Screwed up~

Bug of the day; Odd-looking grasshpper.

 This was my latest preserved bug in my colection. Look at its big red eyes and its antenna. And also its flat face. The first time I seen it (it was still alive by then), I am utterly surprised with a 'wow!'. I not quit sure about other area, but in Malaysia, for me it is quit rare.

 One main feature of this bug was that its face is flat, making it look somehowly humanoid... The sensation and emotion of looking directly into its eyes were, hmm.., extraordinary~

Still, for this bug, I did some mistakes during its preservation. Firstly, I am very satisfied about its 'dryness' but that was the problem; I need to secure the position of its appendages before the drying under the sun. It was because in the past, I did not dry other insects completely and hence able to shape their legs fairly easy. For this one, I tried the same method but with under-the-sun-for-2-days and end up with a detached leg (notice the leg in the middle? That was laying on the floor?). I forcefully inserted the leg back into its empty cavity but then it was like a loose stick..... Disappointment.