Tabanus spp (Horse fly) foot

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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gpmatthews
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Tabanus spp (Horse fly) foot

Post by gpmatthews »

Image
Zeiss x10 plan achromat, brightfield

Image
Leitz x40 NPL ICT Fluotar (DIC). Approx 20 images stacked with HF

Image
Leitz x100 NPL ICT Fluotar Oil (actually glycerine was used) (DIC). About 50 images stacked with HF.

I thought the structure was interesting. The hairs appear to be hooked, with a dimple or possibly an open lumen at the ends. The preparation is a very old (maybe 19th cent.) slide.
Graham

Though we lean upon the same balustrade, the colours of the mountain are different.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Very interesting, Graham!

On pic 3, it does look like there's some sort of dimple on the end of some hairs.

But I wonder whether that appearance is accurate. I remember processing a stack of roughly spherical bacteria where the final picture ended up looking like the bugs had dimples, but in scrolling through the stack as a movie, it looked like just diffraction rings.

What do these things look like when you focus manually?

--Rik

PS. The Imagen viewer is a handy tool for looking at a stack as a movie. It's available as a free download.

gpmatthews
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Post by gpmatthews »

Unfortunately, despite repeated attempts at download, I cannot get Imagen to instal: my machine says it is corrupt or incomplete.

Even so, I can tell you that I did some extensive focussing up and down on the hairs at max mag. The visual impression, because of the effects of focus change and perspective, is that they have clubbed ends. In fact this is usually because of viewing the slight hook straight on and the way this focusses. It was not possible to get a clear idea as to whether the appearance of a dimple was real or an artefact. It could just be the tip seen as a dot or a difference in optical density/gradient showing up as shading by DIC. If the hairs have a lumen, I would have expected to be able to see some hint of this on the shaft, but cannot, although it remains a possibility. Would love to see an electron micrograph of one of these hairs.
Graham

Though we lean upon the same balustrade, the colours of the mountain are different.

Charles Krebs
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Post by Charles Krebs »

Looks as if about "2:30" (relative to the center) you have a pretty good profile and to me it looks as if there is a slight hook to the ends. This would seem consistent with a "head-on" view as seen at about ""11:00 o'clock".

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

gpmatthews wrote:Unfortunately, despite repeated attempts at download, I cannot get Imagen to instal: my machine says it is corrupt or incomplete.
Sorry -- it's always annoying when that happens. That link I gave you was just the first one that looked good on a Google search. The copy of Imagen that I have installed list its own Help | Home Page as http://gromada.com/imagen.html . That's probably the best bet for a current and valid copy. At the moment they're offering a version 2.4.3, which turns out to be the same as I have installed.

--Rik

gpmatthews
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Post by gpmatthews »

OK, thanks - I now have Imagen and will play with it a while to see how it shapes up.

Meantime, here is a single shot of the hair tips, showing some sort of terminal circular features. This image is at full resolution, cropped to 800x800. A bit noisy I'm afraid, but the features look like they're probably real, although exactly how to interpret them remains...:

Image
Graham

Though we lean upon the same balustrade, the colours of the mountain are different.

beetleman
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Post by beetleman »

Wonderful photos Graham...lots of great detail and scientific investigation in this post :smt023
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

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