Taxacom: Questions for insect collection people

[John Noyes]

Hi Mary and others,

You can use propylene glycol as a substitute for alcohol. It is non-poisonous and virtually non-inflammable and is sometimes used as a sweetener in foods as is chemically relatively inert. It is legally available in most countries and can cost about $10 for 5 litres for industrial grade. It is legal on commercial aeroplanes (i.e. not a banned product). Industrial grade acts as an excellent preserver of insects and apparently will not affect DNA. Its only drawback is that it can oxidise at high temperatures (I do not know how high). It is usually slightly viscous (like hand sanitizer) but it is completely miscible with water or alcohol. When you get back to your lab you can replace the propylene glycol with whatever grade of alcohol you want. I am pretty sure that someone has published some findings with regards to its insect and DNA preservation properties.

John

Dr John S. Noyes
Scientific Associate
Insects Division
Natural History Museum
South Kensington
London SW7 5BD
UK

Everything you wanted to know about Chalcidoidea
Universal Chalcidoidea Database - Natural History Museum London:
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nhm.ac.uk%2Four-science%2Fdata%2Fchalcidoids%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C27c15d2140f749dba65208dd2f405e1f%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638718675701010704%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ZXLn6y9lzbAggkAMGcPxBDEJvzg08KP%2BGV5GOeABy%2Fg%3D&reserved=0
Universal Chalcidoidea Database - TaxonWorks:
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fucd.chalcid.org%2F%23%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C27c15d2140f749dba65208dd2f405e1f%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638718675701041514%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Iw2YmipHrQ8a1r5LVZiKclEZxvd0aL4f28dWMdAa%2Bf8%3D&reserved=0

Taxonomic Monographs on Neotropical Hymenoptera
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nhm.ac.uk%2Four-science%2Four-work%2Fbiodiversity%2Ftaxonomic-monographs-on-neotropical-hymenoptera.html&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C27c15d2140f749dba65208dd2f405e1f%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638718675701056505%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=6nrLSrZaCJywkrUxrk6Qr4melOxlG2rxPAGlmCm%2Bld8%3D&reserved=0





-----Original Message-----
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> On Behalf Of Mike Sadka via Taxacom
Sent: 07 January 2025 16:47
To: Mary Barkworth <Mary.Barkworth at usu.edu>; Kipling W Will <kipwill at berkeley.edu>
Cc: Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>; Mustafe Abdulkadir Abdurahman <mustafe441 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Taxacom: Questions for insect collection people

Hi Mary

I think you should be cautious re "denatured alcohol" as it can contain all sorts of additives apparently: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FDenatured_alcohol&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C27c15d2140f749dba65208dd2f405e1f%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638718675701069699%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2FdQD305z5JDPL84V8OhBt2DM4POluUWldALuYanHOUA%3D&reserved=0

Cheerio, Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> On Behalf Of Mary Barkworth via Taxacom
Sent: 07 January 2025 16:42
To: Kipling W Will <kipwill at berkeley.edu>
Cc: Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>; Mustafe Abdulkadir Abdurahman <mustafe441 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Taxacom: Questions for insect collection people

Thank you. Mustafe, can you find out about the availability of denatured alcohol in Somaliland?

mary

________________________________
From: Kipling W Will <kipwill at berkeley.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 7, 2025 9:32 AM
To: Mary Barkworth <Mary.Barkworth at usu.edu>
Cc: Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>; Mustafe Abdulkadir Abdurahman <mustafe441 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Taxacom: Questions for insect collection people

At least historically, e.g., in the USA during the Prohibition period, "denatured" alcohol was used. In some countries I have travelled to, when EtOH (the "drinking sort") was not available, ethanol mixed with methanol and isopropyl alcohol, to make it unfit for human consumption, was readily available. These additives can inhibit later use of tissues for DNA extraction, however. So that might be a factor to consider. But as far as I know, denatured alcohol works fine as a preservative. Hand sanitizer may have any number of proprietary ingredients that could impact the specimens in unpredictable ways.

On Tue, Jan 7, 2025 at 8:20 AM Mary Barkworth via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at lists.ku.edu>> wrote:
If ethanol is not legally available for either killing or storing insects, what is the best alternative? Two that have been suggested are hand sanitizer (70% alcohol plus other compounds) and isopropyl alcohol. Are there other alternatives? Any comments would be welcome. Both legal availability and cost will factor into the final decision but, before looking into those, what would be the best alternative to ethanol, assuming it is legally available in Somaliland, the country where we are working?

Mary
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