MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hi all, welcome to spring'23 (our northern half of our world...it's spring'23).

On bright sunshine days ( sunshine for a few hours only, cloud covers often mute this dead of winter pleasure, latter in the day.)...on bright sunny hours in snow/ice covered open meadows here in finger lakes/US...'Winter Stoneflies' emerge from my artificial pond/ stream setup...and walk about on the meadow snow and ice...to encounter mates/ to start a new generation of fertilized/mature eggs.

Good doggie and I were charmed by encountering dark-black...approx. 1/2 inch stone flies walking about on the meadows ice surface...and this in thick of our winter ( 2/23). Please enjoy our microscopy meadow hike/ encounter with unique life cycles of an aquatic insect, and it's aquatic red water-mite neighbor in the freshwater they call home..I am cheered by further understanding these neighbors of our home meadows. Allocapnia vernalis , these winter stoneflies.

charlie guevara/ fingerlakes/US

Winter Stoneflies/Order: "Plecoptera", are one of five insect orders which have aquatic larvae/ aquatic life stages sometimes taking a few years to complete...rich complexity of life stages ( eggs-larvae-nymphs-instars...etc., etc., !/active phases/ quiescent phases). Order: "Plecoptera"...greek for : 'folded/pleated wing'.

In the same waters...aquatic mites ( in doggie and my 2/23 encounter...a red water-mite imature and parasitic life phase was attached to 'winter stone flies'.)..in the same waters as aquatic stoneflies thrive...water-mites have adapted perhaps more complex life stages...employing stoneflies to at life stages to nourish water-mites...and to directly aide in water-mites dispersal in their shared environments.


In the image of the group of stneflies, please notice the fly on right side of image...has a red-water mite stage attached to the hosts second limb.

What a wonderful evocation of Spring, charlie g

Your magnificent doggie friend obviously welcomes it too !

MichaelG.

In the mix of interactions in assemblages of plants/animals/protists and viruses...for animals interactions with other animals...the term: "Phoresis" highlights one animal transporting another animal...for dispersal of the passenger animal.

Words blend...is a blood sucking insect less than a 'preadator' of larger size? ( especially if a swarm of blood feeders destroy a huge moose, as do winter ticks 'preying' upon moose in US).


So here in my locale I encounter a freshwater red-mite enjoying parasitic-phase nutrition....and transport/dispersal benefits from winter stoneflies. Simple encounters of these winter-stoneflies active on meadow snow/ice .

After male and female winter stoneflies mate on the snow and ice,when the eggs have matured...the female stonefly extrudes these matured eggs as a mass at the tip of her abdomen.

Thanks all for visiting this finger lakes/US winter-stonefly microscopy hike.

I know now I should have kept those stonefly mature eggs in a wet-mount-depression slide...to observe their development ....sigghhh...next winter microscopy project.

Next winter I will better/gentle collect winter stoneflies...so as to not dislodged attached six-legged water-mite stages.

I enjoyed use of my Nikon Plan 2X, Plan 4X, Plan-flour 10X..and a few Plan 20X image captures for this microscopy.

all the best, charlie guevara and good doggie

Greetings, Michael G., thanks for visiting doggie and my late winter microscopy hike. charlie g