Imaging of biological samples: the ant Lasius Niger

The world of arthropods continues to amaze researchers today. An example may be a relatively new report by a group of scientists on structures found in ant shells [1] Although calcareous anatomical structures have evolved in various groups of animals, little has been known so far about the occurrence of this type of form in insects. The authors of the publication mentioned the discovery of a high-magnesium calcite armor covering the exoskeletons of workers of the Acromyrmex echinatior ant. Research using nanoindentation shows that the biomineral layer significantly hardens the exoskeleton. Increased survival of worker ants with biomineralized exoskeletons during fights with other ants and reduced infection by entomopathogenic fungi prove the protective role of the biomineral layer. On the other hand, studies of this type confirm the usefulness of microscopic techniques in biological research. In reference to the cited work, the collection contains the results of imaging the abdomen of the Lasius Niger ant. The research was not cognitive, but rather didactic, allowing to verify the usefulness of AFM in this field. Topographic measurements taken on the abdomen of an ant that died during the seasonal invasion of my research lab. The semi-contact technique (NSG30 probe) was used, holes that may be lenticels are visible. The collection contains 10 topographic images.
Reference:
[1] H. Li, C.Y. Sun, Y. Fang, et al. Biomineral armor in leaf-cutter ants. Nat. Commun., 11 (2020) 5792, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19566-3.