Center for Insect Science Photo Gallery
From Anna Dornhaus:
A Temnothorax ant scout recruits other ants (Anna Dornhaus)
Lab colony of Bombus impatiens; individual bumble bees workers marked with numbered tags; larger (untagged) queen is in the center (Anna Dornhaus)
Temnothorax rugatulus workers, individually marked (Alex Wild)
Weaver ants, Oecophylla smaragdina, in their natural habitat (Tuan Cao)
From Tony Day:
Electron microscopy images of fills of Manduca pupae antennal lobe projection neurons (Tony Day)
Confocal microscopy image of fills of Manduca pupae antennal lobe projection neurons (Tony Day)
Confocal microscopy image of fills of Manduca pupae antennal lobe projection neurons (Tony Day)
Confocal microscopy image of fills of Manduca pupae antennal lobe projection neurons (Tony Day)
From Wulfila Gronenberg:
Three-dimensional reconstruction of the brain of a carpenter ant (Camponotus floridanus); courtesy of Birgit Ehmer (more info) (Wulfila Gronenberg)
Central component of a honeybee brain (the mushroom body); nerve cells labeled red or green, respectively, process different kinds of visual information (more info) (Wulfila Gronenberg)
Eye of a paperwasp (Polistes flavus) composed of several thousands of facets (not visible in this low resolution image). Ultraviolet excitation / blue fluorescence (more info) (Wulfila Gronenberg)
From Charles A. Hedgcock RBP:
Wingless female mutillid, Sycamore Canyon, Ruby Mine Road, Arizona (Charles A. Hedgcock)
Phidippus apacheanus, Chiricahua mountains, Arizona (Charles A. Hedgcock RBP)
From Rudi Loesel:
Central complex of the American cockroach stained with antisera against allatostatin and serotonin (Rudi Loesel, via Nick Strausfeld)
From Nancy Moran:
Two intracellular bacterial symbionts living in Blue Green Sharpshooters visualized with fluorescent in situ hybridization to ribosomal RNA. The red organism is Sulcia muelleri, which synthesizes amino acids for hosts; the green organism is Baumannia cicadellinicola, which makes cofactors. These symbionts coexist in a large number of leafhopper species and enable them to live on diets of plant sap. For more information on insect-bacterial symbiosis visit the Moran Lab website. (P. Tran & N. Moran)
From Jeff Oliver:
Lycaena editha (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from Washoe Valley, Nevada. Some populations of this insect feed on native host plants, while other populations specialize on introduced host plant species. DNA sequencing and coalescent simulations are being used to investigate the effects of novel host use on phytophagous insect population genetic processes. (Jeff Oliver)
Lycaena xanthoides (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from Lake Hemet, California. Some populations of this insect feed on native host plants, while other populations specialize on introduced host plant species. DNA sequencing and coalescent simulations are being used to investigate the effects of novel host use on phytophagous insect population genetic processes. (Jeff Oliver)
Lycaena xanthoides (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). (Jeff Oliver)
From Carolina Reisenman:
A local interneuron in the primary olfactory center of the sphinx moth, Manduca sexta. Local interneurons are confined to the olfactory neuropil and have elaborate dendritic arborizations in many or all glomeruli (the functional units of the primary olfactory centers), but no recognizable axon. The neuron was stained intracellularly by passing hyperpolarizing current through a glass microelectrode filled with a fluorescent dye. The brain was photographed as whole mount using a laser-scanning confocal microscope. (Carolina Reisenman). For more info, visit the Reisenman websites: home and lab. (Reisenman)
Olfactory neurons in the brain of sphinx moths (Reisenman)
Olfactory neurons in the brain of sphinx moths (Reisenman)
Olfactory neurons in the brain of sphinx moths (Reisenman)
From Linda Restifo:
Defective neuronal development in the mushroom bodies of Drosophila fragile X mental retardation 1 (dfmr1) mutants. Wildtype is on the left, mutant on the right. (Linda Restifo)
From Ron Rutowski:
The eye of Asterocampa leilia under illumination whose axis is coincident with the axis of viewing, so called orthodromic illumination. The dark spot with the bright center is the pseudopupil. The bright center is known as the luminous pseudopupil and represents light that has entered the ommatidia and then been reflected back out of the eye by the reflective structure at the back of the eye or tapetum. Hence, the location of the luminous pseudopupil is the location of those ommatidia whose optical axes are pointed at the viewer. (Ron Rutowski)
From S. Patricia Stock:
Third-stage infective juveniles of Arizona-native nematode Steinernema sp. These juveniles are able to penetrate their insect hosts through the insect natural openings (mouth, spiracles). The nematodes carry symbiotic bacteria (Xenorhabdus sp,) and together they are able to kill insects in 24-48 hours. (S. Patricia Stock)
Insect parasitic Mermithids. These nematodes are obligate parasites of a wide range of aquatic and terrestrial insects. They are very long and slender and some species can measure about 1 ft. This picture shows a post-parastic juvenile (J4) of Hexamermis sp. (a terrestrial form) (S. Patricia Stock)
Parasitized/non-parasitized Galleria mellonella larvae: Insects parasitized by entomopathogenic nematodes can be easily depicted from healthy ones by changes in their coloration. Left: Heterorhabditis-parasitized insect (note red color), center: Steinernema -parasitized insect (note brownish coloration), right: healthy insect. (S. Patricia Stock)
Confocal image of the reproductive organs of a female of the entomopathogenic
nematode Heterorhabditis sp. (S. Patricia Stock)
From Nick Strausfeld:
Lobula output neurons (green) terminating on descending neurons in the brain of the blowfly Calliphora erythrocephala (Nick Strausfeld)
Fan-shape and ellipsoid bodies of the central complex of the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus (Nick Strausfeld)
Bodian reduced silver stain of the central complex of the stomatopod Pseudosquilla ciliata (Nick Strausfeld)
Mushroom body efferent neuron (Honey bee, Apis mellifera) (Nick Strausfeld)
Neurons of the fan-shaped body and one of the two noduli of the cockroach central complex (Nick Strausfeld)
Six-spot burnet moths, Zygaena filipendulae on Succisa pratensis, Tarn Valley, France (Nick Strausfeld)
Male-specific antennal lobes of the day-flying moths Hemaris tityus and Zygaena filipendulae (Nick Strausfeld)
Damselfly, possibly Ceriagrion tenellum, Tarn valley, France (Nick Strausfeld)
Mushroom body and antennal lobes of the beetle Hoplia farinosa (Nick Strausfeld)
Central complex and protocerebral neurons: Golgi impregnation Pieris brassicae (Nick Strausfeld)
Central complex fan-shaped body. (Honey bee, Apis mellifera) (Nick Strausfeld)
The giant descending neuron of the fly Calliphora erythrocephala, with one of its optic lobe afferents (green) (Nick Strausfeld)
Pearl wasp, Sycamore Canyon, Ruby Mine road, Arizona (Nick Strausfeld)
From Diana Wheeler:
Camponotus (Diana Wheeler)
From Konrad Zinsmaier:
CNS embryo (Konrad Zinsmaier)
NMJ synapses (Konrad Zinsmaier)
Drosophila eye phenotypes. The upper left eye is wild type; the others are mutations. (Konrad Zinsmaier)