Another etiquette question

The entry under "Do's and Don'ts" of the Help menu, "Don't post mutilated bugs. It offends some of us and makes identification difficult" is directed at those who prefer to stomp on or swat a bug, take a pic, and post it. Any pics that "expand on the natural history of our subjects" (from home page) are appropriate. There is nothing wrong with posting images of dead specimens in good condition, or parts thereof needed for ID (if the parts must be removed for that). Most of my own posts fall into that category. Insects are routinely killed and mounted on pins and for scientific purposes. Bugs tend to curl up when dead, so spreading them out before dry to display key features is helpful. They are brittle when dry, so pinning them before dry with insect pins (from Bioquip, etc.) lets you handle and mount them on a foam surface to prevent things from touching the specimen.

Of morphological characters vary in importance depending on the insect being identified. Wing venation is pretty much unused in Coleoptera, but in dragonflies it's very important..