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Processing Bee Specimens

By Eastern Ecological Science Center

About 20% of any bee project takes place in the field.  Whether you net or use traps specimens need to be washed, dried, pinned, labeled, identified, and databased. Our lab has processed over 600,000 specimens and over time learned how to create a fast, consistent workflow with plenty of double checks

In the Data and Tools section of this website we outline our lab workflow in detail.  The idea is to create a uniformly high-quality product (i.e. clean and fluffy specimens) that are pinned and labeled in a way that make identification and databasing as smooth as possible. 

We have worked with many people on this neglected aspect of a bee project and are happy to have you visit and get some hands-on experience processing specimens choosing a database and managing a collection of specimens (i.e. keeping mold, dermestid beetles, and mice at bay) or finding a group that will do that for you.