Craig B

Photo of my studio featuring a Zeiss micro-stereoscope basis for binoculars

When you're a nerd about both birds and insects
#birds #insects

As a huge fan of the @jessicalwarelab.bsky.social AND of @asavage.bsky.social AND @tested.com AND as a taxonomist AND as the curator of an insect collection...to say I immensely enjoyed this video would be an understatement.

🐉🪰 🤓

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#Taxonomy
@entcollnet.bsky.social

Reposting this for no particular reason.

All the non-hymenopterans really wanna be hymenopterans...

😀

#MimicryFTW
#HymenopteraRule

Image of the front of a package of HP Professional Business paper.

Here's what we are using. The only difference I can see is this one is labeled as glossy finish instead of matte. In hand, it's more of a semi-gloss...there's a slight sheen but it's not super shiny.

I think the finish is the key reason laser toner bonds to it so well.

I use it for points too.

Also, as standard practice I'll print a throwaway copy on cheap copy paper before printing on the good stuff, to warm up the printer if it's been idle for a while.

Not empirically. In a scratch test, the toner comes off much less easily from the hp paper than from heavy card stock. I've been using it for pinned stuff and in alcohol vials for the past few years. I haven't seen any issues on EtOH labels that are a few years old.

You can find stl files for a specimen manipulator here: github.com/western-ento...

(I printed several of these, but then decided to re-create the manipulator myself in CAD because I wanted to make a few changes. My stl files are not currently available online, however.)

...by Matt Buffington & Mike Gates. They tested a variety of archival papers and the hp paper was the winner. Laser toner bonds MUCH better on it than on card stock, and the paper is somewhat "grippy" on pins—I've used the same pinhole for re-attaching labels with no spin. acid- & lignin-free
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We are using HP Color Laserjet Pro printers, currently the 454dw. I think it has been replaced by a newer model, but I original chose it because it can handle heavy (52lb/200 g/m^2) label paper. However, paper choice is key—hp professional business paper was suggested during an ECN meeting...
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Close up view of a 3D-printed insect specimen manipulator on a white background. The manipulator is all black except the two rotating knobs and the foam filled socket for holding the insect are yellow. There is a pinned queen of the rusty patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis in stuck in the foam.

I decided to print a dedicated tool for holding bees while viewing through a microscope.

A bee-spoke manipulator, if you will...

#3DprintingFTW
#NaturalHistoryCollections
#MakeItYourself

museums are cool because the people who work there are like look at this neat thing and you're like wow that is neat and you just do it over and over again until it is time to go

Image of the back of a light blue t-shirt. There is a large circular logo, with a black stag beetle on a yellow background. The text says BEAUTY IS ONLY EXOSKELETON-DEEP

Yup, my partner gets me.

#BestBirthdayPresent

Awesome! Many thanks Torsten. 🪰 👀 💜

Reposting and pinging @tdikow.bsky.social ...

...any chance you can point me in the right direction for an ID? 😬 😀

Right quarter profile view of a small, pinned robber fly (Asilidae) on a white background. The body is black with thick pale yellow setae on the face, thorax, and forming apical bands on the abdominal segments. The legs are very bristly and are mostly orange. The large eyes are dark with a faint purplish tinge.

Perfect. Predaceous. Puppy.

Bycatch* collected this summer in Arizona.

(*bycatch because it was caught during Bee Course and bees were the primary target, I guess)

#Asilidae
#FlyFriday
#FlydayFriday
#FocusStacking
#NaturalHistoryCollections

Even the lowly aspirator (or for those who prefer, pooter) hasn't escaped my attention!

Along with the 3D printed top, there's an attachment for the business end and a mouthpiece to make it easier to hold in one's mouth while in use.

#CuratorsCorner
#3DPrinting
#NaturalHistoryCollections

I wanted to see if I could design and 3D print an insert for Le Parfait bail jars that makes it easier to see the contents and labels in the smaller vials. What do you think?

#CuratorsCorner
#NaturalHistoryCollections
#3DPrinting
#SpiritCollections
#WetCollections

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Focus-stacked close up of two water pennies, one in dorsal and one in ventral view. These are larvae of beetles in the family Psephenidae. The thoracic nota and abdominal terga have laterally expanded flanges that create an oval shield above the body. This likely provides some camouflage and protection against predation as the larvae crawl across submerged rocks. Anyhoo, they are mostly mottled in yellows and browns. White filaments/gills can be seen laterally on the abdominal segments in ventral view.

My two cents' worth...

🇬🇧
📢 THE 11TH CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF HYMENOPTERISTS WILL BE IN MEXICO CITY IN 2026!

🇪🇸
📢 EL XI CONGRESO DE LA SOCIEDAD INTERNACIONAL DE HIMENOPTERISTAS SE CELEBRARÁ EN LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO EN 2026!

He is not wrong.

Good onya mate! That's the right way to go on holiday... 😀

Hi Jill! I've been designing and printing a bunch of things to use in the field and in the collection. Field curation kits, aspirators, vial racks, pinning blocks, imaging stages, etc. etc...

If you're going to Portland, I'm giving a 3D printing talk on Tuesday afternoon. 🙂

Photo inside the open door of an enclosed 3D printer. Attached to the print bed is an angled chute, printed out of fluorescent orange ABS filament. Good times.

I'll never not be amazed at how transformative 3D printing has been for insect collecting & curation.

I can make just about anything (that fits inside the printer) out of virtually nothing (i.e., a spool of inexpensive thermoplastic).

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#MakeItYourOwnDamnSelf

I mean...

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#CurationSunday
#Madagascar
#Buprestidae

Mostly lateral, slightly front-ish view of a jewel beetle on a neutral grey background. It's a chonky specimen, the integument is various dark metallic shades of blue, green, bronze, purple, and black. Pale ivory/yellowish tufts of hair (setae) are regularly covering the pronotum and elytra. The ones on the elytra are shorter and arranged in longitudinal rows. At the corner of the elytron there is a dense appressed patch of brownish orange setae.

Sure, let's burn down the planet using AI to generate fantastical imaginary creatures

...because the natural world isn't fantastic enough?

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#MacroPhotography
#FocusStacking
#NoAIUsedHere
#Tanzania
#JewelBeetle
#Buprestidae

I did. I found by increasing the size of the pins ("stage_axis" & "stage_pin") I could get a tighter fit & less spin. I did this in the slicing software—I increased the print size (for just the stage axis) to 104% and it's a much tighter fit.

The amount of tweaking will depend on the filament type.

Yes! I have two AMS units daisy-chained together...so no spool swapping whatsoever. 🙂

A 3D printed insect pinning block on a textured white background. The pinning block has six differently colored layers of filament: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red.

For labeling a diverse group of insects...

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#3DPrinting