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Nondestructive Imaging of Pin-Mounted Museum Insect Specimens Using the Field-Emission Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM-FEG)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

Scott Robinson ,
Billy McNeill  and
Michael Irwin
Scott Robinson
Affiliation:
Imaging Technology Group, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL61801
Billy McNeill
Affiliation:
Imaging Technology Group, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL61801
Michael Irwin
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL61801
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Extract

The abilities of researchers to obtain high-quality images and other data from pin-mounted museum insect specimens using conventional scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are hindered by several necessary constraints. The specimens may represent unique exemplars (e.g., holotypes) upon which the taxon name rests. In some cases the specimen may no longer be extant in any environment outside the museum. Thus these insects must always be handled with extreme care,Tegardless of how they are to be observed.

Normal preparation of an insect for SEM involves sputter coating it with a conductive metal to minimize the effects of charging, and conductive paint must be applied to an obscure or uninteresting area to complete the connection to the specimen mount and thus to ground. Generally, unless such specimens have been newly collected, they will have already been killed and allowed to air dry, with a mounting pin inserted through the thorax. The body of the insect shrinks against the pin, which cannot then be removed for observation and later reinserted without damage.

Type
In-Situ Microscopy Techniques
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 5 , Issue S2: Proceedings: Microscopy & Microanalysis '99, Microscopy Society of America 57th Annual Meeting, Microbeam Analysis Society 33rd Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon August 1-5, 1999 , August 1999 , pp. 338 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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References

1. Goldstein, J. I.et al., Practical Electron Microscopy, New YorkPlenum, 1975.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2. FEI Co., Portland OR.Google Scholar

3. Support provided by the NSF (9871103) and the Beckman Foundation for the purchase of the ESEM.Google Scholar