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Mounting Honey Bee Wings For Morphometry

Three strips of double sided adhesive tape 2 mm wide are applied as shown dividing the window into three "panes" (as per drawing on right). The wings are placed in position and the wing root is pressed onto the sticky tape (a finger or small spatula will do this adequately).

		Your completed set of 15 wings should look like these... My first one was a bit wobbly, but I could still get the results when projected. Suitable tools for picking up the individual wings for placement are described on the Microscopy Tools page. The mounted needle method actually causes less damage than using tweezers.

Various wing measurements can be made by using a 35 mm slide projector to project the images of mounted wings onto a white wall. The projector must be positioned so that the beam of light is perpendicular to the wall in both the horizontal and vertical plane, otherwise the distortion produced will affect the results.

A particular type of slide mount know as a "Gepe" is made in Sweden and widely available at photographic stores. It consists of two plastic half frames containing thin metal masks and each half frame is separately glazed.

Three strips of double sided adhesive tape 2 mm wide are applied as shown dividing the window into three "panes" (as per drawing on right).

The wings are placed in position and the wing root is pressed onto the sticky tape (a finger or small spatula will do this adequately).

Your completed set of 15 wings should look like these... My first one was a bit wobbly, but I could still get the results when projected.

Suitable tools for picking up the individual wings for placement are described on the Microscopy Tools page. The mounted needle method actually causes less damage than using tweezers.

As of May 2004 this page Has been replaced by a page of the same name which is situated at
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/wingmounting.html
Please transfer to this new page which will open in a new window if you click on the link.

Originated... 10 October 2001, Revised... 14 July 2003, Transferred to New Domain... 13 May 2004,