Pinning and labelling your moths

My former art tutor Janie George (alumna of the Slade, no less) has been inspired by moths.

I'll be honest - I've little experience of pinning moths, though I've done a little with other insects. So I will refer you to some of the experienced knowledge-sharers of the internet.

I'll assume you're starting with a dead moth, which you'll have despatched in the freezer or a killing jar. If you pin it straight away, it'll still be flexible enough to do so. Otherwise, you'll have to relax it first.

You'll need a sealable jar or plastic box - put some wet cotton wool or tissue in the bottom. If you can put a pin through the moth's thorax already, that's great. If you can't, that's fine but you'll have to improvise something else to raise them away from the water. They should be ready after 24 hours or so.

This chap has an excellently clear video on how to relax, pin and spread a butterfly (admittedly it's the most huge and beautiful butterfly, but the principles are the same). It's full of useful tips, he's very good. He even shows how to restore a damaged specimen's detached head to its body! But I hope things like that won't happen to you.

There's a similar video here from a man at Queensland Museum - same thing, but he's dealing with a much smaller butterfly (more like the size of your moths).

I also like the photos and detailed explanation of pinning on the Insects of Iowa website as an alternative to a video.

We have spreading boards of various sizes and entomological pins you can borrow. One thing I don't have is any ordinary pins for securing the paper strips. Eventually you'll probably want to buy things of your own - in which case I've written a page about entomological suppliers.

There are some little things to note:
Unlike with beetles, the pin goes into the centre of the moth's thorax.
The rear edge of the front wing is set at 90 degrees to the body.
The front edge of the hind wing is pushed just under the edge of the front wing.
You must leave the moth in place for a week or two to set.

[I'm not sure I particularly like the idea of setting all moths this way with their wings out - I mean a lot of them don't look anything like that in real life. But it's the traditional way and I'm probably fighting a losing battle to suggest anything different.]

Remember to keep a temporary label with your moth while it sets, to remind you what it is and where you caught it. Then it'll be easier to write your final label. You should check all the names you use with the Natural History Museum's Dictionary of UK Species as this will give you the most up to date version.

Then you could add labels underneath your moth as I've explained in the beetle section.
Or you could have just one label. The important thing is to include all the what, where, when and who information. Plus for moths, it's rather nice to include the method you used to catch it. I offer an imaginary example below. You might want to type and print yours.

On The Sceptical Moth website  you can see how they've staged a micromoth (rather as you would do with a tiny beetle) - and see how labels have been attached to the pins.

Next you'll need a box to put your specimens in. You can pay whatever for a special box from entomological suppliers (like these), but if you're not feeling flush, any box with a close-fitting lid will do. You'll want to put in some moth balls (tightly secured in a corner) - to put off live insects from eating your specimens! I can give you some naphthalene for this.