Water boatman (Hemiptera: Corixidae) legs

[Charles Krebs]

The hind legs of the water boatman are very specialized, enabling it to be a powerful swimmer. They have a variety of special hairs that pivot and flatten against the leg on the forward stroke to provide minimum resistance, and then pivot and flare open forming a paddle with a large "surface area" on the swimming stroke. They are also adorned with an impressive array of spikes of various shapes and sizes. Amazing structures to study and photograph. I have photographed them before, but these are some new images.

Olympus 4X S Plan Apo. Canon 350D. Brightfield illumination.



Olympus 40X S Plan Apo. Canon 350D. DIC illumination.



To give you a sense of the magnification on this last image... the total distance from left to right is about 70 microns, or 0.0027 inches.
Olympus 100X S Plan Apo. Canon 350D. DIC illumination.

[rjlittlefield]

Once again, images of striking beauty and clarity. Simply wonderful!

What kind of mounting prep did you use for the high mag stacks? Are these in water, glycerin, oil, permanent mount??

--Rik

[Walter Piorkowski]

Beautiful Charles! Amazing how much detail you can get with a 100X objective!
Walt

[Charles Krebs]

Rik... these are simply in a water mount. With the high magnifications it limits you to parts that are either very near the cover-slip or even pressed against it. (Due to spherical aberration if it is too "deep", or inability to achieve focus because of the short working distance). But there are so many interesting details that no matter how the cover slip "falls" there are usually a couple of shots to be had.

[beetleman]

Really a lot of details in these pictures Charles...sharp as a razor. I crack up everytime I see your new Avatar image "I LOVE IT"