Hi Thank you all for your numerous responses. Here's their summary. * Paint legs in different colors. Allows for uniquely identifying c^6 individuals (c=number of colors used). * Superglue applied using toothpicks or dissecting needles (fingernail polish remover helps to unglue yourself). BUT: Cyanoacrylate glue pops easily off smooth surfaces. * Shellac is not toxic, but it takes a much longer time to dry than cyanoacrylate glue * Restrain insect by putting it in a box the size of the bug and pressing the bug's back using a pencil eraser. "box" could be a shallow short slot routered or drilled into a board. * Place a tiny harness over bugs on a surface they can grip, you can temporarily immobilize them. Well placed insect pins can work for some insects, but I made a cardstock cutout and attached adhesive wax so that it stuck to the table on which the insect was standing. Worked well. Pinned the insect between thorax and abdomen. * I use acrylic paint for my ant tags. it takes a tooth pick tip amount and it dries fairly fast, but they cant have a waxy coating or like my formica they release formic acid which melts the paint off... but its better than nail polish or elmers glue.
* I’ve done a number of mark recapture studies of Lepidoptera, grasshoppers and beetles and find that use of a marking code or painting individual numbers works better than glued on tags. Fingernail paint with a very small brush can work nicely to apply a dot code to positions on the wings that represent numbers, i.e., 1,2, 4, and 7 on one side, 10,20,40,70 on the other. If the wings are large enough, you can also add 100,200,400,and 700 marks. The combination of marks identified each individual uniquely. It takes some practice and you’ll need finger nail solvent as the polish tends to dry out in the container as it is exposed to air. * Elmer's glue diluted with a little water works well for terrestrial insects. Make up some in a small ziplock bag.To attach the tag, use a 000 (triple zero) insect pin to pick up the tag (tap the tag with the pin), gently place tag on a thin layer of Elmer's, then transfer to insect. * I have heard of people using a tiny drop of clear fingernail polish as a glue. * Find from toy model supply stores a 'needle tip glue applicator'. It looks kind of like a disposable syringe tip but made for glue. One form can be found here, with other interesting small tools: http://www.micromark.com/micro-glue-applicator,8048.html * Write numbers on thorax using sharpies (for bumblebees). * The Bee Works tags (http://www.beeworks.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=125) with Walmart superglue (worked with marine mussels). Additional suggested sources of info: * ENTOMO-L listserv * http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/04/17/science.1234316 * For aquatic insects: see Freilich JE (1989) A Method for Tagging Individual Benthic Macroinvertebrates. Journal of the North American Benthological Society. Asaf
