You may have heard that Bioquip Products will soon close after 75 years in operation. Their expertise and learning will be hard to replace. Indigo Instruments has supplied science & education products online since 1994. Some of our products overlap with Bioquip’s & we list our equivalents below.
Black Enamel/Stainless Steel Insect Mounting Pins
Our Entosphinx insect pins are identical to the Bioquip brand. They are made in the Czech Republic with high-grade Swedish steel. They are the best insect pins on the market; guaranteed to be super sharp & rust-resistant.
We offer combo packs of 10 pins of the 10 different sizes in both black enamel & stainless.
Biology Tools
Our scissors & tweezers/forceps are satin finish and made from medical-grade steel. Since Bioquip’s product descriptions may differ from ours, we put theirs in brackets to guide you.
Loupes/Hand Lenses
Our various geology loupes/hand lenses are of comparable quality. The 5X-5X=10X glass lens plastic frame loupe is a particularly good buy. We have sold well over 20,000 to users in Integrated Pest Management, Agriculture & Horticulture. If your interest is systematics, the 10X 23mm metal loupe doublet may help identify differences in morphology. Use it with a cell phone camera1 to really see the “bee’s knees” and classify accordingly.
Indigo’s Bioquip Equivalent Products List
| Description | Our SKU | Our Price USD | BQ SKU | BQ Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #5 watchmaker ("swiss style") | 22490 | 5.95 | 4535 | 9.71 |
| #7 watchmaker ("swiss style") | 22493 | 5.95 | 4532 | 8.42 |
| splinter forceps, straight | 22416 | 2.95 | 4731 | 4.54 |
| splinter forceps, curved | 22420 | 2.95 | 4732 | 4.54 |
| medium point forceps, straight | 22425 | 2.95 | 4734 | 4.61 |
| dressing forceps 125mm/5" | 22430 | 2.95 | 4735 | 4.68 |
| 10"/250mm thumb forceps ("long") | 22458 | 5.95 | 4730 | 16.13 |
| 12"/300mm thumb forceps ("long")) | 22459 | 7.95 | 4729 | 17.14 |
| Iris Scissors, Straight ("dissecting") | 22208 | 3.95 | 4713 | 7.12 |
| iris scissors, curved ("dissecting") | 22210 | 3.95 | 4714 | 7.12 |
| microdissecting scissors ("iris") | 22221 | 13.95 | 4715 | 29.8 |
| 5X/5X loupe, <30mm glass , (19mm plastic) lenses | 23202-3 | 4.95 | 1129N | 10.59 |
| 10X doublet small (17 vs 12mm) | 23220-10 | 4.35 | 1129A | 13.1 |
| 10X doublet large (23 vs 20mm) | 23223-10 | 12.95 | 1128B | 42.8 |
| 10X triplet (21 vs 18mm) | 23231-10 | 18.95 | 1129D | 59.79 |
| 20X triplet (21 vs 19mm lens) | 23231-20 | 20.95 | 1129X | 18.63 |
| 6X linen tester, 25mm ("4X", 1") | 23412 | 9.95 | 1129Z | 23.66 |
| Minutens 0.15mm (NEW) | 33416-15 | 24.25 | 1208SA | 24.83 |
| Minutens 0.20mm (NEW) | 33416-20 | 24.25 | 1208SB | 24.83 |
What Some of Our Customers Say About Us
Keith Uloth:
Ordered insect pinning equipment with no issues. Their website was easy to navigate and the process was quick without any delays or window reloading.
My order was shipped and received quicker than expected. I will order from them again.
Alison Bell:
Ordered a sample pack of insect pins for making pinhole cameras. Wonderful selection and super-fast shipment even in a pandemic. They work really well for the purpose. I use the pin size below the size of the hole I want and have gotten …
Leyla Cardenas:
Online customer here, from overseas. I bought insect pins because they are impossible to get here. Great products, very reliable business, Everything arrived in great condition.
Mary Claire Becker:
I have been using Indigo Instruments entomology pins in my artwork for almost ten years now, and at this point, they have been an integral part of multiple framed works as well as four different large-scale sculptural paper installations. Basically—huge thanks to Indigo Instruments for being a big part of my studio practice!
Laura Sudweeks:
Ordered 100 magnifying glasses for a marketing project. First I started on Amazon, but they only allowed me to order 10 at a time. That was a waste of my time and a complete pain. Some of the orders were canceled because they couldn’t …
Jeanne Paquette:
Indigo Instruments has been a reliable source of affordable hand lenses for beginners in our earth sciences courses at McGill University. We tried other suppliers after coming across the occasional defective items (unavoidable in mass manufacturing). However, Indigo Instruments offers us the best quality:price ratio and attentive service among the many options we tried.
Integrated Pest Management-Insect Pheromones
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a strategy to control pests with little or no use of chemical pesticides. For insects, chemical traps infused with pheromones act as airborne chemical attractants. The unwary male insect “thinks” it’s finding a female mate but finds a death trap instead. The pheromones are species-specific with little or no deleterious effects on desirable insects.
Some of these compounds are listed in the Pherobase along with the insect species that produce it. We tested many with our 3D Molecular Model Builder and all rendered accurately. The last on the list is made by a termite that has the chemical formula, C57H98O6. Its chemical (IUPAC) name, (Z,Z)-9,12-octadecadienoic acid, 1,2,3-propanetriyl ester, hints at its complexity and the marvel of evolution that it is.
So, peruse the list. You may be surprised how much organic chemistry you remember & at the diversity of these compounds.
Termite pheromone: (Z,Z)-9,12-octadecadienoic acid, 1,2,3-propanetriyl ester
Indigo Instruments Related Blogs
Here is a collection of blogs that relate to using our insect pins and magnifiers in the pursuit of things entomological.
