Forensic Ent. 101, BF vs. DIC.

[NikonUser]

My banana-bait fly trap caught many flies last week and somebody laid eggs, these hatched and the larvae began eating the bait.
There were 6 species of Blow Flies in the trap and so I can't tell which species laid eggs. There was also 1 Muscid fly species.

My knowledge of forensic entomology has been gleaned from CSI shows on TV. They seem to like Blow Flies, especially their maggots.
The mouthparts differ between species and are an aid to identification.

Top: mouthparts of 2nd instar larva; brightfield, 20x obj + 2.5x relay lens; full frame
Bottom: same but with 10x obj, 1.25x intermediate lens, + 2.5x relay lens, DIC. The higher mag. from this setup negated the use of the 20x obj.

The DIC image clearly shows the large surface areas for muscle attachments, mandibles are the hooks on the right.
The regular brightfield image gives a better overall impression of the mouthparts.


NU11117 NU11118

EDIT: the above makes a good story. Truth is these mouthparts are from a last instar maggot of a fruit fly Drosophila, so hardly Forensics 101.

[Mitch640]

Ah, very nice. I have often wished more people would post both brightfield and DIC when they post DIC. I know they are beautiful but for us DIC challenged scopers, they mean very little beyond nice looking art.

Your ability to dissect an insect is phenomenal and something I'll never be able to do. It really adds to the overall effect.