Spiracle of Staphylinus (Ocypus) olens, Devil's Coach Horse

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 1:15 pm

This image is of a spiracle from the large beetle known as the Devil's Coach Horse, Staphylinus (Ocypus) olens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Coach-horse_Beetle . The image is taken of a slide by an unknown Victorian mounter. The quality of the mount suggests a professional, or a very proficient amateur. Spiracles are respiratory openings found on the thorax and abdomen of insects. The spiracles are connected to trachea - tubes within the insect's body. Oxygen enters the trachea via the trachea and then diffuses into the insect's body. The entrance to the spiracle in this case is protected by a dense mass of hairs that protect against the entry of foreign bodies and by reducing mass air movement, reduce water loss.
The final image is a stack and stich of 179 images in 6 stacks. Nikon X10 0.25 Plan DIC objective. Nikon 0.55 phase DIC LWD condenser, Nikon Diaphot microscope. Camera, Canon EOS 40D. Stacked with Helicon Focus, stitched with Microsoft ICE.
The blurred area to the top left is the unfortunate consequence of an out of focus scratch on the surface of the cover slip. This slightly mars what is otherwise a fascinating and unusual subject.

There is a larger 20 Mpixel zoomable version here http://photosynth.net/edit.aspx?cid=120 ... d4afc10e37

This near 100% crop gives a good idea of the detail captured in fairly deep stacks of 20-30 images across the subject.

NikonUser · Post by **NikonUser** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 3:18 pm

I doubt if made by a professional.
compare with
DETAIL HERE

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 7:42 pm

I'm amazed by the work it takes to dissect and mount these tiny bug parts. And for maybe 150 years ago, and what they had to work with, and just the age of the mount, it's still a pretty good job.

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 11:45 pm

Thanks Mitch.

NikonUser · Post by **NikonUser** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 5:43 am

Mitch640 wrote:I'm amazed by the work it takes to dissect and mount these tiny bug parts. And for maybe 150 years ago, and what they had to work with, and just the age of the mount, it's still a pretty good job.

Hmm! Don't know what equipment they had 150 years ago but as I have seen images of diatom slides made in 1853 it had to be decent.
Compared to having to collect, clean, and mount a diatom, mounting a beetle spiracle would be a piece of cake.
Re-thinking this image I can't see why the actual specimen/mount should be anything less than excellent. Perhaps such a bulky specimen is not suitable for DIC.

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 11:47 am

Nikon User, I'd happily pass on your comments to the mounter of this specimen if I knew him, but I fear he has long since departed such earthly concerns.

As to the choice of DIC illumination being perhaps inappropriate, you may be right. Your blowfly spiracle is certainly very nice and mine though structurally rather different, and, I assume, at lower magnification, does suffer in comparison.