Specimen Preparation Guidelines: Hymenoptera

• Microhymenoptera should be submitted in 95% ethanol. If you have access to a critical point dryer and are skilled at point-mointing, dried specimens may be submitted.
  
  
• Whenever possible, transfer living microhymenoptera specimens directly into ethanol for preservation. Specimens that have been allowed to air-dry are usually impossible to identify since diagnostic characters will have shriveled up beyond recognition.
  
  
• Please isolate microhymenoptera specimens from labels by inserting a piece of cotton into the vial between the specimens and the labels. This will prevent damage to the specimens during shipping.

• Ichneumonidae should be submitted in 95% ethanol.
  
  
• All larvae and pupae should be submitted in 70% ethanol.
  
  
• Large submissions should be sorted by family and/or morpho-species, and all specimens should be individually labeled with collection locality data.