Butterfly scale slide prep

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houstontx
Posts: 395
Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2015 1:07 pm

Butterfly scale slide prep

Post by houstontx »

What is the best way to prepare butterfly wing scales for viewing on the slide? I have tried scraping them off into water and immersion oil. But it is prone to air bubbles and the scales are not very dense in the frame. Is there a way to concentrate the scales better?

I have also tried sections of whole wing which do work but again lots of air bubbles as immersion oil doesn't penetrate in the scales fully.

houstontx
Posts: 395
Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2015 1:07 pm

Post by houstontx »

This was about as dense in the frame as I could get them off the wing. Scraping them over the slide just makes them float away.

Image

Olympusman
Posts: 5090
Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:31 pm

Butterfly scales

Post by Olympusman »

I have found the best mounting technique for butterfly scales and wings is a dry mount. Because butterfly wing colors are the result of refraction ( much like Blue Jay feathers) any mounting medium will dull any colors. When I mount a wing, I put a small drop of mountant on the slide and attach the wing to the drop. Then I put down four small drops of mountant at the positions of the corner of the cover slip and use them to glue the cover slip to the slide. I use the same technique for pollen since most mountants bleed any pigments out of the pollen. This same technique should work for scales scraped off onto a slide.

Mike
Michael Reese Much FRMS EMS Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA

houstontx
Posts: 395
Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2015 1:07 pm

Post by houstontx »

Mike,

You are right, dry mount is best, and I found scraping with the end of a small thin flathead screwdriver onto the slide and then wiping the edges of the screwdriver onto the slide deposits them very densely. Getting better pictures. Attached is brightfield, 10x APO, 25 image stack with 5mp USB cam.Image

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