A Novel Technique of Hair Removal to Examine the Cuticle of Arthropods

Extract

The highly structured arthropod cuticle is often adorned with dense hairs that conceal the underlying landscape. Thus, to examine the structures and patterns on the cuticle the overlying hairs must be removed with minimal damage to the cuticle itself. Different methods can be employed to eliminate hairs but the difficulty of this task is compounded by the small size and fragility of the exoskeleton to which the hairs are attached. If the hairs are removed using razor blades or scissors, not only is the debris from the cut hairs and the stubble from the remainder of the shaft left behind, but the cuticle is often broken in the course of gripping the exoskeleton. We developed a unique technique that cleanly removes hairs without leaving debris or damaging the structure. This technique has been successfully used to examine the cuticular surfaces of arthropods of varying sizes including spiders, bees, beetles and moths.