MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hi,

I’m new here and just got my microscope today. So I started exploring the tiny world and decided to put some ants on. I had tiny ants and collected them by putting a drop of water on them and then putting them on a slide.

Now the strange thing is that they seem to have a ring on them. First I thought it might just be some dirt or so and I collected more ants and all of them seem to have these strange rings. I attached a photo and hope someone would be so kind of clarifying what these rings might be? Most of the ants seem to have them under their ‘butt’, but some have them also near their legs. I thought, maybe it is something they collect?! The rings appear to be firmly attached on their bodies though. Even when moving the cover slip around, the legs may move, the rings don’t. They seem firmly attached.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Andreas

I investigated further and found the same type of ‘ring’ on a piece of meat. Sorry for the bad quality of the photos - I’m just trying to make them with a mobile phone. I sliced the meat really thinly and mounted it with some oil. Same sort of rings appear across the sample. Some deep inside the meat, others more clearly like the one in the attached photo.

Hi,
these are gas bubbles in the water, perhaps coming from inside the ant. When you press on the cover slip while observing they will move.

Bob

Hi Bob,

Thank you. First day with the microscope - I think I still have to learn a lot. Now I got a good idea what this is. Thanks again!

Cheers,
Andreas

Hi Andreas,
I have asked the same question about a bubble inside a wood section not that long ago!

Bob