Sting, Piercing Dart
This is one of two piercing darts inside the sting of a paper wasp, likely Polistes dominula (an invasive species). The dart is a hollow tube which delivers venom. This micrograph shows the venom outlet at the tip of the dart.
This individual was trapped while building a nest on my house and killed using Ethyl Acetate. Whole insect fixed 24 hours in FAA (formaldehyde, acetic acid, ethyl alcohol.) Dehydrated in IPA at 35, 50, 70, 85, 95 %. Wing sections dissected under 95 % IPA and mounted directly in Euparal.
Photographed on a Nikon MS microscope in phase contrast at original magnification of 400X using a Sony NEX 5N and a Leica MIKAS 1/3X adapter.
Sting, Piercing Dart
This is one of two piercing darts inside the sting of a paper wasp, likely Polistes dominula (an invasive species). The dart is a hollow tube which delivers venom. This micrograph shows the venom outlet at the tip of the dart.
This individual was trapped while building a nest on my house and killed using Ethyl Acetate. Whole insect fixed 24 hours in FAA (formaldehyde, acetic acid, ethyl alcohol.) Dehydrated in IPA at 35, 50, 70, 85, 95 %. Wing sections dissected under 95 % IPA and mounted directly in Euparal.
Photographed on a Nikon MS microscope in phase contrast at original magnification of 400X using a Sony NEX 5N and a Leica MIKAS 1/3X adapter.