Rotational Scanning Electron Micrographs (rSEM): A novel and accessible tool to visualize and communicate complex morphology

Laboulbeniales are highly specific ectoparasitic fungi of arthropods (insects, millipedes, and arachnids). The first Laboulbeniales parasitizing the millipede order Chordeumatida (Diplopoda) were discovered and described as a new dioecious genus of Laboulbeniales, Thaxterimyces, to accommodate the new species T. baliensis. Also the millipede host is a new species and is described as Metopidiothrix sheari. This is the first time Laboulbeniales fungus and its millipede host are described as new together. Males of Metopidiothrix have the most extensive secondary sexual modifications in the entire class Diplopoda. Although nothing is known about the function of these modifications, the unique pattern of Laboulbeniales infection in the new millipede species is obviously related to host sexual behavior. Rotational Scanning Electron Micrographs (rSEM) are used to create a 3D comprehensive model to examine the fungal-host interaction, a more advanced visualization of the ectoparasitic fungus on its host. Laboulbeniales diversity on millipedes is still understudied, and a consistent effort is needed to unveil and understand the extent and diversity of this biological interaction. Due to their minute size and apparently non-detrimental effect on their hosts, Laboulbeniales in general have been largely ignored by mycologists and neglected by generations of entomologists. As a result a significant component of global biodiversity has been strongly underestimated, and a wealth of new discoveries is still to be made both in the field and in existing museum collections.

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“…A critical point dried infected leg of the host was used to create a 3D model, following the procedure described by Cheung et al [16].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novelty upon novelty visualized by rotational scanning electron micrographs (rSEM): Laboulbeniales on the millipede order Chordeumatida

2018

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“…Specimens were secondarily mounted on an SEM stub using aluminum tape and sputter coated with platinum/palladium. rSEMs of genitalia were created using the methodology outlined in Cheung et al (2013) using a JEOL JSM-6335F scanning electron microscope. Images were processed in Adobe Lightroom, combined into an rSEM using Adobe Flash CS v5.1 and exported as SWF files.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A revision of the Neotropical species of Bolitogyrus Chevrolat, a geographically disjunct lineage of Staphylinini (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae)

Brunke¹,

Solodovnikov²

2014

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The Neotropical species of the rarely collected genus Bolitogyrus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae: Staphylinini) are revised. The genus exhibits an uncommon, disjunct distribution between the Neotropical and Oriental Regions and is of unknown phylogenetic position within Staphylinini. Morphological evolution remarkable for Staphylinini was discovered within Bolitogyrus, including sexually dimorphic modifications of the pronotum that may be involved in male competition for females. rSEM interactive animations were used to establish morphological species boundaries between two highly variable species and are provided to illustrate diagnostic characters of the genitalia in unconventional views. The genus is redescribed based on the world fauna and twenty-eight Neotropical species are considered valid. Of these, nineteen are described as new to science: Bolitogyrus ashei sp. n.; B. apicofasciatus sp. n.; B. brevistellus sp. n.; B. bufo sp. n.; B. cheungi sp. n.; B. cornutus sp. n.; B. divisus sp. n.; B. falini sp. n.; B. gracilis sp. n.; B. inexspectatus sp. n.; B. longistellus sp. n.; B. marquezi sp. n.; B. newtoni sp. n.; B. pseudotortifolius sp. n.; B. pulchrus sp. n.; B. silex sp. n.; B. thomasi sp. n.; B. tortifolius sp. n.; and B. viridescens sp. n. Bolitogyrus sallei (Kraatz), stat. r. is removed from synonymy with B. buphthalmus (Erichson) and the following new synonyms are proposed: Cyrtothorax cyanescens Sharp, 1884, syn. n. = Quedius buphthalmus Erichson, 1840; C. nevermanni Scheerpeltz, 1974, syn. n. = C. costaricensis Wendeler, 1927. A summary of all available bionomic and distributional data, as well as an illustrated identification key to and diagnoses of all Neotropical species are provided.

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“…Micro Computed Tomography (Micro CT) is currently a key method [12] , [13] , able to create micron-accurate volumetric models of millimeter-scale objects and their internal structure. However, like recent 3D reconstructions from scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs [14] , [15] , Micro CT is unable to capture important information about the surface of the object: its natural colour. Exposure and reconstruction times can be long (tens of hours) and, as an X-ray imaging method, Micro CT generally demands special safety equipment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capturing Natural-Colour 3D Models of Insects for Species Discovery and Diagnostics

et al. 2014

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Collections of biological specimens are fundamental to scientific understanding and characterization of natural diversity—past, present and future. This paper presents a system for liberating useful information from physical collections by bringing specimens into the digital domain so they can be more readily shared, analyzed, annotated and compared. It focuses on insects and is strongly motivated by the desire to accelerate and augment current practices in insect taxonomy which predominantly use text, 2D diagrams and images to describe and characterize species. While these traditional kinds of descriptions are informative and useful, they cannot cover insect specimens “from all angles” and precious specimens are still exchanged between researchers and collections for this reason. Furthermore, insects can be complex in structure and pose many challenges to computer vision systems. We present a new prototype for a practical, cost-effective system of off-the-shelf components to acquire natural-colour 3D models of insects from around 3 mm to 30 mm in length. (“Natural-colour” is used to contrast with “false-colour”, i.e., colour generated from, or applied to, gray-scale data post-acquisition.) Colour images are captured from different angles and focal depths using a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera rig and two-axis turntable. These 2D images are processed into 3D reconstructions using software based on a visual hull algorithm. The resulting models are compact (around 10 megabytes), afford excellent optical resolution, and can be readily embedded into documents and web pages, as well as viewed on mobile devices. The system is portable, safe, relatively affordable, and complements the sort of volumetric data that can be acquired by computed tomography. This system provides a new way to augment the description and documentation of insect species holotypes, reducing the need to handle or ship specimens. It opens up new opportunities to collect data for research, education, art, entertainment, biodiversity assessment and biosecurity control.

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Rotational Scanning Electron Micrographs (rSEM): A novel and accessible tool to visualize and communicate complex morphology

Cited by 10 publications

References 24 publications

Novelty upon novelty visualized by rotational scanning electron micrographs (rSEM): Laboulbeniales on the millipede order Chordeumatida

Novelty upon novelty visualized by rotational scanning electron micrographs (rSEM): Laboulbeniales on the millipede order Chordeumatida

A revision of the Neotropical species of Bolitogyrus Chevrolat, a geographically disjunct lineage of Staphylinini (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae)

Capturing Natural-Colour 3D Models of Insects for Species Discovery and Diagnostics

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