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Pityococcus rugulosus lifecycle
2. Hatchling crawler
3. First stage quiescent larva (this set)
4. Second stage quiescent larva

The needles upon which the specimens in this set were attached were collected collected from a Pinus edulis (pinyon) tree on Embudito Trl. (No. 192) at 6983 ft elevation in the Sandia Crest 7.5’ quadrangle, Sandia Mountains, Bernalillo Co., NM. Recently hatched larvae attach themselves to their host pinyon tree's needles, as shown here with Specimen 1. Specimen 2 was removed from the needle for its ventral view. Both specimens were stored for several months in 95% ETOH, then transferred to glycerin for several days. They were removed from the glycerin, rinsed briefly with water, then quickly dried for imaging. This procedure replaces internal fluids with (nonvolatile) glycerin to prevent excessive shrivel for the time it takes to image.

Specimens 3 and 4 were collected 6 months later in the (following) year, during which time they have plumped up. They are imaged live. The first stage integument has broken up into quadrate fragments at this time, exposing the second stage layer beneath. That is, they are transitional between first and second stages. These fragments remain attached throughout the second stage of the larva's development.

This image is from a CombineZP processed stack of 200 images with a 0.9 µm step taken with a Nikon BD Plan Apo 40×/0.80 210/0 mm microscope objective + adapter/extension tube + Nikon D810 camera.

The main pages for each linked image set documenting a stage of development for this species are linked here: