Vhx 5000 digital microscope

The beetle specimens were collected by using an aspirator inside the cave, and kept in 55% ethanol before study. Dissections and observations were made under a Leica S8AP0 microscope. Dissected genital pieces, including the median lobe and parameres of the aedeagus, were glued onto small transparent plastic plates and pinned under the specimen they belonged to. Habitus pictures were taken by means of a Keyence VHX-5000 digital microscope. Genital pictures were taken using a Canon EOS 40D camera connected to a Zeiss AX10 microscope, and then stacked and processed by means of Adobe Photoshop CS5 software. Distribution maps created using Mapinfo software.
The length of the body was measured from the apex of the right mandible (in open position) to the elytral apex; the width of the body was taken as the maximum width of the elytra.
Abbreviations of other measurements used in the text are as follows:
HLm

length of head including mandibles, from apex of right mandible to occipital suture

HLl

length of head excluding mandibles, from front of labrum to occipital suture

HW

maximum width of head

PrL

length of prothorax, along the median line

PnL

length of pronotum, as above

PrW

maximum width of prothorax

PnW

maximum width of pronotum

PfW

width of pronotum at front

PbW

width of pronotum at base

EL

length of elytra, from base of scutellum to elytral apex

EW

maximum width of combined elytra

Brown sclerotia were found in the piles of egg within nests of R. labralis in Xi’an, China, in May 2014 (Fig. 1A). The sclerotia were soaked in a solution of sodium hypochlorite (approximately 1% active chlorine) for 10 min, this step was repeated three times, and then the sclerotia were rinsed with sterilized distilled water three times. Five surface-sterilized sclerotia were cultured in five Petri dishes containing potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 27 °C for 20 days. The sclerotia germination, the production of new sclerotia, and the diameter of the fungal colonies were recorded every two days using VHX-5000 Digital Microscope (Keyence Corporation, Osaka, Japan).

The Haller’s organ posterior capsule was imaged with a Keyence VHX-5000 digital microscope using epi-illumination with polarized light and a VH-Z500R 500X-5000X objective (Keyence Corporation, Elmwood Park, NJ, USA). A Woodpecker UDS-J ultrasonic dental scaler (Guilin Woodpecker Medical Instrument Co., Guilin, China) was modified for micro-etching of the cuticle to remove the cover from the Haller’s organ posterior capsule for imaging. The stainless-steel tip supplied by the manufacturer was sharpened mechanically with a hard Arkansas whetstone wet with mineral oil, and then further electropointed in a solution containing 34 ml 98% sulfuric acid, 42 ml 25% orthphosphoric acid and 24 ml deionized water. A 6 VDC source was used with the variable resistance adjusted to control the rate of etching so that a sharp, polished tip could be obtained [18 (link)]. It was furthermore necessary to reduce the power supplied to the ultrasonic generator handpiece by placing a 3 KΩ, 5W resistor in series with it. The handpiece with sharpened tip was fixed to a micromanipulator to perform manually controlled etching of the cuticle covering of the Haller’s organ posterior capsule.

The photographs and measurements were acquired using a Keyence VHX 5000 Digital Microscope.

The phenotype of A. adeninivorans G1212/YRC102, G1212/YRC102-AYNI1-AGDC1-6H and G1234 [Δagdc1] was investigated. For this purpose, strains were cultivated on agar plates containing YMM-glucose-NaNO₃ at 30°C for 48 h. Colony morphology was investigated using a VHX-5000 Digital Microscope (KEYENCE Deutschland GmbH, Neu-Isenburg, Germany). For detailed analysis, a FESEM S 4100 device (Hitachi High-Technologies Europe GmbH, Krefeld, Germany) was used. Fragments of agar plates containing colonies were dried in 30°C, attached to carbon-coated aluminum sample blocks and gold-coated in an Edwards S150B sputter coater (Edwards High Vacuum Inc., Clevedon, United Kingdom).