Image de Dasymutilla Ashmead 1899

Description :

Magnified 54X under a scanning electron micrograph (SEM), this is one of the two eyes of a female velvet ant, Dasymutilla sp., with a number of debris particulates on its surface. Note the hairs surrounding the eye, which are actually chitinous extensions of the exoskeletal surface. In mammals, the hair is composed of another protein known as keratin. The hairs adorning an insect’s exoskeleton are known as setae, and interestingly, both, these sensorial setae, and its eyes, as well as its antennae all provide the organism with information about its environment, which allows it to act in accordance with its environmental elements.
Created: 2007