SCIENCE INTO IMAGES

The 17th chapter of the “Inhabitants of the microworld” series is called “Phantom killer”.

Dipters of the Chaoborus genus are very strange, especially their aquatic larvae and pupa. They are completely transparent, a characteristic that has bring them the name of “phantom midges”. Although their apparent delicacy these larvae are terrible predators of smaller animals, which they capture using their cephalic appendages transformed into hooks. Two pairs of gas vesicles on the anterior and posterior regions of the body allows these larvae to regulate the position in the water column in a very similar way to our submarine ships.

This is the 17th chapter of a series that will bring to us a video per day during this confinement forced by COVID-19.

We hope that you enjoy this initiative, which gives access to a documentary series for free to the world, and you share it with everyone you think will possibly be interested.

Science into Images’s team.

The 16th chapter of the “Inhabitants of the microworld” series is called “Sliding amoeba”.

Amoebae are strange protozoarians. They have not appendages to move but they move. And they do this thanks to cytoplasmic streams inside the cell and to a greatly deformable cell membrane. This type of movement, also adopted by other organisms, is called amoeboid movement. There are a many species, and specialists classify them into two big groups, that of the testacean amoebae (protected by a carapace of very variable shape) and that of the nude amoebae, as the protagonist of our video.

This is the 16th chapter of a series that will bring to us a video per day during this confinement forced by COVID-19.

We hope that you enjoy this initiative, which gives access to a documentary series for free to the world, and you share it with everyone you think will possibly be interested.

Science into Images’s team.

The 15th chapter of the “Inhabitants of the microworld” series is called “Water bear”.

Tardigrades or “water bears” are very special animals. Their physiology, able to resist the most extreme environmental conditions, has converted them in emblematic animals for the research on the effects of the radiation and on the environmental conditions in the outer space. That’s why some institutions, as NASA, are studying them accurately. Despite their appearance, they are microscopic animals that use to live among the moss and in some wet areas, where feed on vegetal stuff.

This is the 15th chapter of a series that will bring to us a video per day during this confinement forced by COVID-19.

We hope that you enjoy this initiative, which gives access to a documentary series for free to the world, and you share it with everyone you think will possibly be interested.

Science into Images’s team.

The 14th chapter of the “Inhabitants of the microworld” series is called “Tiger ready”.

Tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is an Asiatic mosquito that currently has become a danger for the areas surrounding the Mediterranean. This mosquito is considered an invasive species that is able to act as a vector for several diseases. Adults can be easily recognized by its white stripes on its legs and mainly by the conspicuous white line along the dorsal part of the thorax.

The citizen science platform Mosquito Alert (http://www.mosquitoalert.com/), has been developed to study the expansion of this species and to fight against it.

This is the 14th chapter of a series that will bring to us a video per day during this confinement forced by COVID-19.

We hope that you enjoy this initiative, which gives access to a documentary series for free to the world, and you share it with everyone you think will possibly be interested.

Science into Images’s team.

The 13th chapter of the “Inhabitants of the microworld” series is called “Lonely Alona”.

There are many species of fresh water crustaceans pertaining to the group of Cladocerans, commonly named “water fleas”. And those species pertaining to the genus Alona use to be poorly known. They are very small, hardly larger than some ciliates, and it is perhaps due to this characteristic they play a very important role as prey in the aquatic ecosystems.

This is the 13th chapter of a series that will bring to us a video per day during this confinement forced by COVID-19.

We hope that you enjoy this initiative, which gives access to a documentary series for free to the world, and you share it with everyone you think will possibly be interested.

Science into Images’s team.

The 12th chapter of the “Inhabitants of the microworld” series is called “Backswimmer’s pond”.

Backswimmers (Notonecta sp.) are powerful predators in the aquatic ecosystems. The common name is due to its special way of swimming, always upside down. They usually live in fresh water ponds or lakes, where they feed on any prey they are able to catch, from small aquatic invertebrates to tadpoles or even young fish. They are included in the order of Hemipterans and their mouthparts are transformed into a stylet for sucking the internal fluids of its prey.

This is the 12th chapter of a series that will bring to us a video per day during this confinement forced by COVID-19.

We hope that you enjoy this initiative, which gives access to a documentary series for free to the world, and you share it with everyone you think will possibly be interested.

Science into Images’s team.

The 11th chapter of the “Inhabitants of the microworld” series is called “Micro scavengers”.

Carcases of dead animals living in ponds and lakes disappear. It is possible thanks to the restless activity of tiny living beings that find in these carcases its main food. They are, mainly, ciliates as Coleps or Trachelius, which, sometimes, congregate in hihçgh number around the carrions in the same way that vultures or hyaenas made in the macro world.

This is the 11th chapter of a series that will bring to us a video per day during this confinement forced by COVID-19.

We hope that you enjoy this initiative, which gives access to a documentary series for free to the world, and you share it with everyone you think will possibly be interested.

Science into Images’s team.

The tenth chapter of the “Inhabitants of the microworld” series is called “Ephemeral life”.

Mayflies, also called shadflies or fishflies, are insects of the order Ephemeroptera, one of the most ancient orders of insects known. Their name Ephemeroptera is due to the short life as adult. Adult of many species live only a few hours after the final moulting. In contrast with their short life as adult, their aquatic development can last a long time, even several years, and during this period, nymphs carry out several moults as they are growing. At the end of their nymphal development they emerge to the water surface, break the nymphal cuticle and became a subadult insect (called subimago). This subimago will later moult again to become into adult or imago. This is the only known example of an insect carrying out a moult in its winged phase.

This is the tenth chapter of a series that will bring to us a video per day during this confinement forced by COVID-19.

We hope that you enjoy this initiative, which gives access to a documentary series for free to the world, and you share it with everyone you think will possibly be interested.

Science into Images’s team.

The ninth chapter of the “Inhabitants of the microworld” series is called “Lethal softness”.

Hydra is a polyp, as anemones, although it does not live in the sea but in fresh water lakes and ponds. It has a delicate aspect and, usually, is not larger than a few millimetres. But its aparent delicacy is delusory. Hydra is a powerful predator of small aquatic animals that captures by mean of the urticant cells recovering the surface of its delicate tentacles.

This is the ninth chapter of a series that will bring to us a video per day during this confinement forced by COVID-19.

We hope that you enjoy this initiative, which gives access to a documentary series for free to the world, and you share it with everyone you think will possibly be interested.

Science into Images’s team.