Take a look at the photograph of a bed bug display vial accompanying this news story out of Columbus last week.
Pretty neat, yes?
For one thing they’re dead, but still look pretty good, and there they are, all stages, clearly visible! An elegant educational tool, simple and, one can hope, inexpensive.
Dr. Gerry Wegner is technical director and staff entomologist of Varment Guard Environmental Services Inc. in Columbus, Ohio. He very generously answered our questions.
New York vs Bed Bugs: I think this is very, very cool. How is this made?
Gerry Wegner: Sometime back one of our company technicians brought me an open bottle of Dial hand sanitizer that had fruit flies suspended in it and they stayed perfectly preserved since that time. I checked the ingredients and found that hand sanitizer is @ 65% ethyl alcohol, which is great for preserving most insects and spiders. However, I actually place live specimens in 75–80% alcohol to allow body fluids, waste and visible contaminants to be expelled and then I transfer the fixed specimens to display vials filled about 2/3 way with hand sanitizer.
Next, I remove air bubbles with a fine-tip dropper. Then I place the fixed specimens into the vials and situate them in the position I want using long, fine-tip forceps. I add more hand sanitizer as I go. I top off the vials and remove the last of the bubbles, slide a printed label along the inside wall of the vial and seal it with a tight-fitting cap. More air bubbles sometimes appear over time; but they can be removed with the dropper and the cap replaced. Vials can be purchased from BioQuip (www.bioquip.com).
New York vs Bed Bugs: What is your experience of people’s reactions to seeing bed bugs?
Gerry Wegner: Lots of folks get grossed out over bed bugs’ appearance but they want to see them anyway so they’ll know how to recognize them. Having specimens dead in hand sanitizer helps calm folks’ fear of contact. I keep a live colony for display and research as well.
New York vs Bed Bugs: Do you think we’ll get a handle on this bed bug problem, Dr. Wegner?
Gerry Wegner: In my opinion, we’ll always have bed bugs surviving somewhere in the U.S., sort of like background noise, no matter how diligent the general population becomes with caution/prevention and remediation or IPM technology advances.
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Background noise. We’re there, sadly. I know people in the city who are already quite used to bed bugs.
Check out Dr. Wegner’s article about this technique:
Wegner, G. S. (2004) A Surprising New Medium for Specimen Preservation and Display American Entomologist 50:4, 220-221. (free PDF download)
The bubbles—an issue in display aesthetics only—can be teased out using a probing instrument or will rise to the surface over time.
These pages may be of related interest:
