Scanning Electron Microscopes have a more powerful magnification ability than other microscopes thanks to their use of electrons. Trina Roberts, Associate Vice President for Collections PUTTING THE ELECTRON IN S-E-M Picture of the specimen we get a new story to share.” “When we can see more of the super small things, we get a better Getting a closer look at the proboscis revealed nature’s tiny saw blade. A closer look at the fly’s proboscis (mouthpart) under NHM’s Scanning Electron Microscope showed the structure of the mouthparts that helped support Kung’s observation. Kung suggested the ants were being decapitated, but Brown was initially skeptical. When NHM’s Entomology Curator Brian Brown and Collections Manager Giar-Ann Kung were doing field work in Brazil, they noticed a phorid fly in the Dohrniphora longirostrata-group was leaving some ants headless. The pictured mouth is about 2mm across, or roughly half the size of Lincoln's head on a penny. Images like this helped Hendler and his colleagues learn that there are two different types of brittle star mouths: one for species like predators and another like the funnel-shaped one here, used to compact and crush microscopic particles of food.
His research, which culminated in a 123-page monograph, hinged on SEM.
Hendler used in a three-year study of anatomy, function and developm ent of brittle star mouthparts. This SEM image captures the central disk and five-jawed mouth of the brittle star Ophiothrix spiculata, one of 7,000 images Dr.