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
Exploring the temperature tolerance of a cave beetle
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
Exploring the temperature tolerance of a cave beetle
I would guess high, too. Like 25C (I guess Markus must have tested 20, 25, 30, 37, if it tolerates relatively high temp. Haha). I kind of relate this to the temperature tolerance of yeast. Although not the most healthy condition, it is still true that yeasts grow faster at 37C while its optimal temperature is 30C. I think both adaptation and conservation exist and it may adapt to the low temperature environment, but the general metabolism system and equilibrium between protein stability/activity may share a lot of common features with its relatives.
Jan 28, 2019
Exploring the temperature tolerance of a cave beetle