MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Sorry,my English is really bad .
what is w.m.?
how to make Insect w.m. Microscope Slide myself?
picture from internet(Flea w.m.):

W.M. stands for "Whole Mount". The whole specimen is in mounting medium. Good only for small insects or insect parts. Put insect in alcohol to dehydrate and then into Euparal mounting medium. If this is not available, place insect into acetone for some time and then try mounting with clear nail polish. Expect significant shrinking of the nail polish and air bubbles.
Oliver

Mounting whole insects in either Euparal or Canada Balsam is a well-tried and proven method.

A far simpler method, perhaps more suitable for a beginner, is to mount in "Glycerin Glue", a mixture of glycerin and a polyvinyl alcohol-based glue.
To make the mounting medium add 1mL water to 4mL of glycerin, mix carefully to avoid bubbles. Carefully add, to avoid bubbles, 4mL of "Elmer's Clear Washable School Glue".
Both products are cheap and readily available. The final mix is crystal clear.

Place an insect, in a small amount of water, on a slide; add a drop of mountant. The mountant will shrink as water evaporates. About every 4 hours (during the day) check to see if insect is still covered with mountant, if not add another drop.
After about a day much of the water will have evaporated, can then add a small drop to wet the surface and add a cover slip.

Best to add sufficient mountant so that a ring of excess mountant exists around the edge of the cover slip, this will prevent the medium completely drying out.

REF: Zander 2014. Four water-soluble mounting media for microslides. Phytoneuron 2014-32 1-4.

Here is a small beetle w.m. in glycerin glue.
Anyone know the species, or genus, or Family ? Atlantic Canada

TonyT wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 22, 2021 1:58 pm

Here is a small beetle w.m. in glycerin glue.
Anyone know the species, or genus, or Family ? Atlantic Canada

I'm no coleopterist, but a view of the underside will help.

Silvanidae: Silvanus sp. would be a good place to start looking for an ID. There are some related genera that are similar.

Thanks Viktor.
I checked the images on BugGuide and Silvanus muticus seems the most likely.