I caught this Rosemary Beetle early today with the intention of CT scanning it for #CTguess & #xraystuffinmylab on Twitter, also because I’m genuinely interested in these beetles.
Consulting the literature, it seemed that nitrogen asphixiation & several hours in a freezer should painlessly euthanise the beetle, leaving it in good condition for scanning.
This little fellow, survived in 100% nitrogen for more than four hours at -10 C. It was still crawling around when I fished its testube from the freezer to scan it.
You’ve got to respect tenacity like that, so I let the beetle go free again. Too hardcore to kill.