I was given these bugs for christmas from a friend, I have a semi-small collection consisting of moths, butterflies and other smaller flying insects, since they are the main area of my interests and my only beetle I have came pre-pinned. I’m completely stumped on what to do with these two as I’ve never pinned beetles myself, so I’m asking for any tips or tricks I should know before i jump right into finding shadow boxes for them.
There are a number of great tutorials on YouTube on how to pin beetles. The Little Caterpillar channel was the one I first learned to pin from. Personally I dunk mine in hot water to relax them, but you can also leave them in a rehydration chamber for a few days as you would for other bugs. Beetles are my favorite to pin - have fun :)
I’ll be sure to check that channel out! Thank yooou!!
You have one beetle and one bug.
Rehydrating is exactly the same for both. Let them sit in very hot water for 15-20 mins (no need for traditional relaxing chamber) - just place them in the water with the cardboard facing up.
Pin the beetle through the top 1/3 rd of one elytron (right side by convention). Pin should come out between the first pair of legs. Then use pins to brace the legs in whatever position you think looks good.
The bug is exactly the same but pin through tye scutellum (again off to one side, typically the right). If you are unaware, the scutellum is the "triangular" area just below the thorax