Image of Dasymutilla Ashmead 1899

Description:

At 47X, this scanning electron micrograph (SEM) showed the head, and some of the thoracic region from an anterior view of a female velvet ant, Dasymutilla sp.. Note the two anteriorly-placed antennae with their rounded "scapes" that are the most apparent head appendages. Like the antennae, the numerous hairs or setae adorning almost all of the insect’s exterior surfaces, act as sensory structures, supplying the organism with information about its environmental parameters. The jointed legs, from which the insect's Phylum Arthropoda is derived, i.e., Arthro = jointed, and poda leg, are also partially visible, emanating from the thoracic region.
Created: 2007