Chaoborus punctipennis - glassworm or phantom midge larvae

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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Mitch640
Posts: 2137
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:43 pm

Chaoborus punctipennis - glassworm or phantom midge larvae

Post by Mitch640 »

I found this guy in a jar of pond water sent to me by a friend in Tennessee. I have had him for about a week and seen him swimming around in there, but was unable to catch him with a pipette. Today, I used a white ice cube tray to pour out some of the water from the jar into about half the cube sections. I put the tray under a Nikon Stereo scope and checked, and sure enough, he was in the first section.

Being in a much smaller area made it easy to suck him into the pipette. I used a 5ml pipette with a short piece of aquarium air hose attached to the end of the tube. This was enough to get him pulled up, then I transferred him to a slide with a depression in it. Because of his size, quite large enough to see with the naked eye, there was no need to use a coverslip.

It turns out to be a Chaoborus punctipennis. A glassworm or phantom midge larvae. They are a predator of mosquito larva and the four black kidney shaped things are air sacs that he uses to control his depth in the water.

Here is the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp_LfV89qJM

1. The tail end. 2x.
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2. First section forward of the tail. 4x
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3. A view of the head. 4x.
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4. The head and neck, showing the esophagus. 4x.
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5. Two of four kidney shaped objects are air sacs he uses for depth control. 10x.
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6. And the fan at the tail, larger view. 10x.
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fpelectronica
Posts: 1808
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 3:56 pm
Location: España

Post by fpelectronica »

Beautiful photographs and explanation
When attempting to view the video I get the message "This video is private. Sorry for the inconvenience"
Francisco

Mitch640
Posts: 2137
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:43 pm

Post by Mitch640 »

Thanks Francisco. I had set the privacy option to private by mistake. Please try again, and let me know if it works now. I set it back to public. Thanks. :)

fpelectronica
Posts: 1808
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 3:56 pm
Location: España

Post by fpelectronica »

Ok Mitch
It works. thanks
Francisco

Mitch640
Posts: 2137
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:43 pm

Post by Mitch640 »

Thank you, enjoy. :)

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