Journal
JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
Volume 250, Issue -, Pages 479-494Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2000.tb00791.x
Keywords
cuticle; membranes; ultrastructure; functional morphology; Odonata; Insecta
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This study describes and quantifies the microsculpture and ultrastructural design of the neck membrane of adult Odonata using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The membranous cuticle has a complex pattern of microfolds, which appear to have a specialized mechanical function. The membrane has two layers of cuticle: the epicuticle and exocuticle. The outermost layer is the electron-opaque epicuticle, which repeats the shapes of the microfolds. The epicuticle has no fibrillar elements. The exocuticle is electron-lucent and rather thin (0.5-1.5 mu m) compared with the sclerite cuticle. The cuticle microfibrils in successive lamellae are at angles to each other. The epidermal cells underlying the membrane have an electron-lucent matrix filled with electron-opaque spherical vesicles of 0.1-0.4 mu m in diameter. The behaviour of the membrane folds under loading was studied by shock-freezing experiments; these showed that the shape of the folds changed in response to head movements, and stretched under loading. A comparison of the surface patterns of the membrane in 10 odonate species from seven families (Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae, Lestidae, Megapodagrionidae; Anisoptera: Cordulegastridae, Aeshnidae, Corduliidae, Libellulidae) had not revealed any correlation of the measured parameters with the size, sex or systematic position of species studied.
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