Mites Profile View
Jul 25, 2021 16:26:00 #
This is the Longhorn Beetle that I captured last night and when I staged it for a focus stacking session I found that it was infested with mites. This is a profile view that shows them which I imagine was quite uncomfortable for the beetle if beetles can feel such things.
Jul 25, 2021 17:02:59 #
Jul 25, 2021 17:08:10 #
Woof! Super shot! I don't think even the old Louse Comb in the medical kit has small enough gaps between the teeth to comb out those bad boys!!
Jul 25, 2021 17:10:59 #
kpmac wrote:
Holy guacamole, sippy. Great stack.
Thanks, Kpmac. At times a surprise turns out to be a big surprise and this was one of those times.
Jul 25, 2021 17:22:56 #
quixdraw wrote:
Woof! Super shot! I don't think even the old Louse Comb in the medical kit has small enough gaps between the teeth to comb out those bad boys!!
Thanks, Quixdraw. After seeing them when the stack of images had completed processing I looked at the beetle with my magnifying loop and all I could see was what looked like a bit of red dust on it.
The microscope objective that I use for my focus stacking sessions is designed for industrial applications that use the Nikon Measuring Microscope. It's about the size of my fist so it is much larger than the microscope objectives that you would see being used to look at medical slides in a lab which are about the size of my thumb.
This objective is intended for "tool makers" who have to perform precision measuring where telecentric performance is required for their work.
Jul 25, 2021 17:36:45 #
Cool shot again Sippy. You pose two interesting questions: Does the beetle even know they are there and are the mites parasitic or is it a symbiotic relationship?
Jul 25, 2021 18:05:50 #
Curmudgeon wrote:
Cool shot again Sippy. You pose two interesting questions: Does the beetle even know they are there and are the mites parasitic or is it a symbiotic relationship?
Curmudgeon, you pose interesting questions. Regarding pain, "According to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), "Pain equals an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage." That means that pain is more than simply the stimulation of nerves."
Insects have a nervous system so whatever it is that they sense may be quite different from the way we would interpret it. Of course if they can sense pain....can they sense pleasure?
As far as these mites, I don't know what benefit the beetle would derive from them. It's not like the relationship that ants and aphids have. It may be that they are hitching a ride which is how they spread their populations. They are on the exoskeleton which is very durable unlike a chigger biting into my leg...Those S.O.B's..!!!
Jul 31, 2021 19:45:21 #
sippyjug104 wrote:
Curmudgeon, you pose interesting questions. Regar... (show quote)
been away from those (chiggers) so long I've thankfully forgotten the trauma
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