Male mosquito sensors

[rjlittlefield]

The antennae and palps of a male mosquito are dramatically different from those of the female.

In a broad brush view, the male listens for females using his antennae which are tuned to mechanically resonate with the frequency of the female's wingbeats. On closer study, things can get even more interesting. See for example https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2975882/ and https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 110014.htm .

Anyway this is a male, with big fluffy antennae and palps.




Crossed-eye stereo:




Crossed-eye stereo, closer:



Shot with Canon T1i using Componon 50mm f/2.8 at f/4, alone on bellows, extended to give about 3.47X magnification on sensor. Cropped for posting to about 4.7 mm field width in the first image here. 71 frames at 0.05 mm focus step. Main illumination by a single flash from behind and above at 1/2 power, diffused through a piece of paper. Most of the front fill is reflection from the inside of a hemispherical diffuser; slight additional fill from two flashes in front at 1/64 power. Background is a "night sky", made by printing a severely underexposing photo of a normal daytime blue sky.

--Rik

[Nurz]

I love the images, I hate mosquitoes.

[MarkSturtevant]

Very detailed work!

[BugEZ]

Great photos! I have not observed the less bushy tips found on your male fly’s antenna. This is quite interesting.

The second reference mentions the amplification in signal obtained by some mosquitoes that inject a phantom tone into the signal path. I am reminded of the BFO (beat frequency oscillator) used in my old amateur radio receiver that helped with the reception of Continuous Wave (Morris code) or Single Side Band transmissions. This signal processing trick did a similar thing to extract something recognizable from weak transmissions.

Keith

[rjlittlefield]

Thanks for the feedback!

Great photos! I have not observed the less bushy tips found on your male fly’s antenna. This is quite interesting.

The second reference mentions the amplification in signal obtained by some mosquitoes that inject a phantom tone into the signal path. I am reminded of the BFO (beat frequency oscillator) used in my old amateur radio receiver that helped with the reception of Continuous Wave (Morris code) or Single Side Band transmissions. This signal processing trick did a similar thing to extract something recognizable from weak transmissions.

I have been told that the less bushy tips are normal anatomy for male mosquitoes. Laurie Knight posted a nice photo a long time ago: https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=7580 , that shows some of the anatomy better than mine does. That thread also has some interesting discussion about insect antennae as compared to radio antennas.

Sadly, I cannot re-photograph my specimen to try showing any features better. When I was moving the mounted specimen from photo rig to storage box, using pliers on the pin, the pin shifted position in the jaws with a sudden "click" that broke off the specimen. I tried to find the remains, in hopes that some critical bits had survived, but no success. My best guess is when it broke off, it fell down one of the many holes in the optical breadboard that serves as the base of my photo rig. Since the photo rig now serves as a sort of mausoleum, perhaps I should make a plaque in memorium.

--Rik

[clarnibass]

I didn't know about these cross eye double photos... so just tried it and saw it
Is it like those 3D drawings in books?
Do you have a link that explains how to create them?

[rjlittlefield]

I didn't know about these cross eye double photos... so just tried it and saw it
Is it like those 3D drawings in books?
Do you have a link that explains how to create them?

I'm glad they work for you!

I make stereo pairs routinely with small subjects, because I think they add a lot of value at very little added cost. The left & right eye views are generated computationally from a single stack, so having shot an ordinary stack, getting stereo is just a matter of adjusting some software settings and processing the same images again. There's no artistry or 3D modeling involved.

See https://zerenesystems.com/cms/stacker/docs/syntheticstereo for documentation.

--Rik