Traditional scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has long been useful for imaging morphological features of hard-bodied organisms, however, this technique has not proven practical for many soft-bodied taxa because specimen preparation requires chemical fixation, dehydration, and critical point drying. Recently, low-temperature field emission SEM has been used to obtain high resolution images of a wide range of soft-bodied arthropod taxa, including mites, spiders, collembola, myriapods, as well as a diverse array of both larval and adult insects. Utilizing contact-freeze immobilization techniques, the authors were able to capture and image specimens in near-natural positions, providing insights into both behavior and ecology.
Keywords: Scanning Electron Microscopy
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA