Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Inner Mysteries of a Midge Larva


Small aquatic organisms - like this midge larva that came from the water butt outside my greenhouse - are conveniently transparent, so you can watch the internals workings of their bodies with amazing clarity under the microscope. The short video clip here shows a wave of muscular contraction driving food through this insect larva's gut.

3 comments:

  1. Very cool! I love the transparent pink and gold colors.

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  2. Hi Wilma, I think the pink pigment is haemoglobin, as in human blood - the larva came from pretty stagnant water so probably had high levels of haemoglobin for absorbing oxygen.

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  3. hello. i'm want to ask....where is the specific location of the salivary gland of the midges larvae(1st picture above) and how does it looks like?

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