A lesson in lygus mouth parts. I was curious as I was photographing this lygus as I have never seen the thin thread like appendage out of the proboscis before.
"The labrum or upper lip is usually reduced to just a small structure at the top of the mouthparts (the mouthparts as a whole are referred to as a rostrum in piercing/sucking insects). The mandibles (normally used in chewing and are quite robust) and maxillae (normally used in manipulating the chewed up bits) are reduced to what are called stylets. The paired mandibles form a sort of reciprocating saw to cut into plant tissue. The paired maxillae form a feeding tube to suck up the food." Kenneth Fry, Ph.D., Instructor, School of Life Science & Business, Olds College .
Image (another test) at 7x with Canon 5D MK IV, Canon MPE 65mm racked out to 5x with 1.4 extender. 23 steps at 50µm.
Closer view (not a great image) at 10x, Canon 30D, Zeiss 10x infinity objective on Sigma 75-300mm @ 250mm. 71 steps at 10µm.Lygus 7x, 10x, 12x - Addendum
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Lygus 7x, 10x, 12x - Addendum
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Re: Lygus 7x, 12x - Addendum
Another snap at 7x with Canon 5D MK IV, Canon MPE 65mm racked out to 5x with 1.4 extender. 30 steps at 50µm.
Side view lygus proboscis 12x, Canon 30D, Zeiss 10x infinity objective on Sigma 75-300mm @ 300mm, 83 steps at 10µm.
Side view lygus proboscis 12x, Canon 30D, Zeiss 10x infinity objective on Sigma 75-300mm @ 300mm, 83 steps at 10µm.
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Re: Lygus 7x, 10x, 12x - Addendum
Excellent images! From what I gather the appendage is more than likely used for drawing up or piercing and drawing up sap from the various plants or crops that it feeds upon. At least according to Wikipedia and Google. I have noticed a similar tube-like structure in Shield or Stink bugs when viewing them using a dissecting microscope and though I don't know but can only speculate that the same might be found in bugs such as Assassins and Ambush bugs.
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Re: Lygus 7x, 10x, 12x - Addendum
Very good! This shows and describes the set of piercing and sucking mouthparts that Hemipterans use.
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters
Dept. of Still Waters