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Pityococcus rugulosus lifecycle
5m. Immature male crawler
6m. Prepupa (this set)
7m. Pupa

The three specimens shown in this linked set were collected on 06MAR2016 from within the detritus on the ground under 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.

Most of the P. rugulosus immature male crawlers haved crawled to the forest floor to pupate at this time. To this end, they have secreted fibers from orifices on their abdomen to form cocoons. Pupation has not yet occurred in this set, though. That is, there has been no molt since the immature crawler stage. It is a different stage for the purposes of this series because the prepupa is quiescent within its cocoon.

Specimen 1, shown here, was imaged live. Specimen 2 (2'nd through 4'th images) was removed from its cocoon and largely immobilized by exposure to toluene vapor for its images. Its legs where still moving a bit for its ventral-lateral view, though, so multiple exposure of leg setae (a consequence of the multiple images required for stacked imaging) is seen. Specimen 3 (5'nd through 7'th images) was stored for in 95% ETOH for a few days, then transferred to glycerin for a few more. It was then 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.

This image is from a CombineZP processed stack of 334 images with a 2.7 µm step taken with a Mitutoyo BD Plan APO 20×/0.42 ∞/0 mm microscope objective + Nikon 200 mm F4 AIS telephoto lens + Nikon D810 camera (magnification 20×; technique described here).

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