Preserving and vouchering butterflies and moths for large-scale museum-based molecular research

Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) comprise significant portions of the world's natural history collections, but a standardized tissue preservation protocol for molecular research is largely lacking. Lepidoptera have traditionally been spread on mounting boards to display wing patterns and col...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PeerJ (San Francisco, CA) CA), 2016-06, Vol.4, p.e2160-e2160, Article e2160
Main Authors: Cho, Soowon, Epstein, Samantha W, Mitter, Kim, Hamilton, Chris A, Plotkin, David, Mitter, Charles, Kawahara, Akito Y
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Butterflies & moths
Collections
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Entomology
Ethanol
Evolution
Evolutionary Studies
Genomics
Lepidoptera
Morphology
Museum
Museums
Natural history
Natural history collections
Phylogeny
Preservation
Protection and preservation
Researchers
Studies
Taxonomy
Wings
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) comprise significant portions of the world's natural history collections, but a standardized tissue preservation protocol for molecular research is largely lacking. Lepidoptera have traditionally been spread on mounting boards to display wing patterns and colors, which are often important for species identification. Many molecular phylogenetic studies have used legs from pinned specimens as the primary source for DNA in order to preserve a morphological voucher, but the amount of available tissue is often limited. Preserving an entire specimen in a cryogenic freezer is ideal for DNA preservation, but without an easily accessible voucher it can make specimen identification, verification, and morphological work difficult. Here we present a procedure that creates accessible and easily visualized "wing vouchers" of individual Lepidoptera specimens, and preserves the remainder of the insect in a cryogenic freezer for molecular research. Wings are preserved in protective holders so that both dorsal and ventral patterns and colors can be easily viewed without further damage. Our wing vouchering system has been implemented at the University of Maryland (AToL Lep Collection) and the University of Florida (Florida Museum of Natural History, McGuire Center of Lepidoptera and Biodiversity), which are among two of the largest Lepidoptera molecular collections in the world.
ISSN:2167-8359
2167-8359
DOI:10.7717/peerj.2160