An effective method for the close up photography of insect genitalia during dissection: a case study on the Lepidoptera
Open Access
- 6 November 2018
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Pensoft Publishers in Nota Lepidopterologica
- Vol. 41 (2), 219-223
- https://doi.org/10.3897/nl.41.27831
Abstract
Characters of male and female genitalia in insects in general, especially in Lepidoptera, are essential for species identification as they display extensive morphological variation. In embedded genitalia, due to the positioning of the genitalia and the pressure of the cover glass, the appearance of some diagnostic characters might be confusing. This potentially leads to taxonomic misinterpretation. Additionally, the photography of genitalia structures in ethanol is difficult, due to drift or hardening of genitalia. A method is presented here to fix the position of the genitalia in ethanol, which allows comparative close up photography. The advantage of the method is demonstrated by illustrating the sacculus projection of three Triphosa species.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- A simple and quick method of displaying liquid-preserved morphological structures for microphotographyZootaxa, 2016
- Une nouvelle espèce du genre Triphosa Stephens, 1829 (Lep. Geometridae)Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France., 2008