Markus Friedrich

Markus Friedrich

Jun 08, 2019

Group 6 Copy 329
1

Cave beetle larvae invite for a new challenge question

Hello there friends of the cave beetle!

This may be pushing the limits of minimally shareworthy data bite but it sure is something you will never see in an actual publication. And it's been making my Friday yesterday, examining the well-being of the first three 16 degrees Celsius larvae that I am now keeping on a separate culture plate to be able to track their survival and growth. This is what I found on their 1 cm x 1 cm spring water moistened and Baker's yeast granule furnished filter paper food patch (besides all three larvae):

Challenge question of the week: What is this? I will reveal its identity and significance once we received more than two guesses. But not before next weekend.

Time to revisit all episodes of the X-files again.

PS: My first published picture taken with smart phone through one stereo microscope eye piece

1 comments

Join the conversation!Sign In
  • Qing Luan
    Qing LuanBacker
    It looks like molt. And you said "besides all three larvae"... But is that the morphology of larvae? I thought they were adult at the first glance. They really look like teen adult...
    Jun 10, 2019
  • Markus Friedrich
    Markus FriedrichResearcher
    Hi there Qing, Interesting guess. What exactly do you mean by "molt"?
    Jun 10, 2019
  • Qing Luan
    Qing LuanBacker
    The old skin. Like cicadas. I kind of recall beetle larvae leave their old "skin" or "shell" behind when they grow bigger, is that right?
    Jun 10, 2019
  • Markus Friedrich
    Markus FriedrichResearcher
    That is right indeed. Congratulations Qing and thank you for your insightful input! Turns out we are looking at a shed first larval instar cuticle or exoskeleton. This documents successful growth and development of the larvae on the 16 degrees Celsius plate. It's easy to grow in body size, but quite a challenge for any molting animal (Edysozoa) to break through the tightening grip of an outsized cuticle and leave it completely behind. So that's why this little piece of larval cuticle is a really encouraging finding.
    Jun 11, 2019
  • Qing Luan
    Qing LuanBacker
    So these larvae were born with such long antennae and legs? Wow, that's fascinating! I recall when we were counting the bristles on tribolium larvae, occasionally we saw a little bit older larvae with their cuticle "duplicated" already. Intriguingly, the bristle were "duplicated" as well, potentially showing the structure of the bristles were not a simple piece of hair. Now the bristles of this larva (if I am not misunderstanding them) are quite long as well. I guess it makes sense, as that might be one of its dominant sensors.
    Jun 11, 2019
  • Markus Friedrich
    Markus FriedrichResearcher
    You are right on the money again. Sensory appendage elongation is part of what is called the troglomorphic phenotype. The most striking aspect in the P. hirtus larvae are the long terminal cerci. Will post an annotated image this weekend (if time allows).
    Jun 11, 2019

About This Project

My undergraduate student Sonya Royzenblat and I will track the well being of the cave beetle Ptomaphagus hirtus at different ambient temperatures to determine the temperature range at which this species can be cultured most efficiently. Besides boosting our studies of its enigmatic visual system in the lab, this insight will help to understand its dispersal limits in the cave environment, and to predict possible changes in response to global warming.

Blast off!

Browse Other Projects on Experiment

Related Projects

Wormfree World - Finding New Cures

Hookworms affect the lives of more than 400,000,000 men, women and children around the world. The most effective...

Viral Causes of Lung Cancer

We have special access to blood specimens collected from more than 9,000 cancer free people. These individuals...

Cannibalism in Giant Tyrannosaurs

This is the key question we hope to answer with this study. This project is to fund research into a skull...

Backer Badge Funded

A biology project funded by 109 people

Add a comment