Dissection needle prototype

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NikonUser
Posts: 2693
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:03 am
Location: southern New Brunswick, Canada

Dissection needle prototype

Post by NikonUser »

Male moths have an aedeagus (equivalent to a penis) which in many species has 'armature'
Here I have dissected out the spines of a single male Cabera erythemaria moth.
Each would make a fine dissecting needle if I could figure out a way to mount them on a handle.
Spines are chitin (a large, structural polysaccharide made from chains of modified glucose) which is strong and resistant to many chemicals.
Nikon 40x LWD M Plan, NA 0.55 210/0; Zerene PMax stack
Attachments
aedeagus spines 3viii20.jpg
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives

Beatsy
Posts: 2105
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:10 am
Location: Malvern, UK

Re: Dissection needle prototype

Post by Beatsy »

Glue them in the end of a thin hypodermic needle?

Pau
Site Admin
Posts: 6052
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:57 am
Location: Valencia, Spain

Re: Dissection needle prototype

Post by Pau »

Very interesting.

(maybe not so much for the female moth, who knows?)
Pau

NikonUser
Posts: 2693
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:03 am
Location: southern New Brunswick, Canada

Re: Dissection needle prototype

Post by NikonUser »

In some species the females give the males a rough time. The male aedeagus has to negotiate this chicane, in the ductus, that is equipped with a double set of shark's teeth; only to be greeted by spines in the bursa.
Attachments
7445-hor-intest-fem.jpg
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives

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