Mosquito larvae

Sep 07, 2015 • 12:17 PM UTC

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Microorganisms

Saad Bhamla

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I came across some mosquito larvae in the lab and decided to image them using the foldscope (with tom’s help).
Some of the videos have a running commentary, which may add to your experience (in my opinion) as I discuss my observations with fellow lab-mates – it’s always nice to have a few extra pairs of eyes.
So. Here’s a simple video showing these creatures swimming around in a tub of tap-water. The wire mesh is used to scoop them out for preparing on a slide.
http://youtu.be/a9t_5aAc3ho
I deposited a live larvae onto a glass slide, added some spacers, a few drops of water, and gently pressed a glass coverslip on top of the specimen. Be careful not to press to hard as the coverslip breaks easily!!

Now for the fun part. In the next three videos below, you’ll see the mosquito larvae images using the foldscope. We observed their breathing apparatus, fine hair near their mouth, gut movements, muscle twitching, and feeding motions.
Video 1:
http://youtu.be/KtEQ4eR8XZo
Video 2:
http://youtu.be/mnwHNH2fuMQ
Video 3:
http://youtu.be/IAnE3fAZ_ZY
Video 4:
http://youtu.be/yicyFWnQ-aM
Next we prepared a mosquito pupae. In the image below, you should see a distinct shape difference compared to the previous image of the larvae stage.

And here’s a video of the pupae stage.
http://youtu.be/ZEY8WOWwwEI
Finally, I captured some slow motion videos of the larvae swimming around.
http://youtu.be/VZBRqQwm7sU