Mounting of genitalia
1) Microscope slides must
be cleaned with 75% alcohol. The voucher code is written in an
adhesive label placed in the left side of the slide, and the same
code is written in the right side using a diamond point pencil.
2) To dissect the genitalia
of the adults, the best is that adults are fresh and soft. If
they have been in the freezer or they have been recently hatched,
it is recommended to start the dissection. For males, the abdomen
is cut in the seventh segment with a fine dissection scissor.
This cut has to be done in this way in order to avoid destructing
the genitalia and the eighth segment, which is important for the
taxonomic identification. For females, the cut has to be done
in the sixth abdominal segment to mount the spermatheca located
in the seventh segment.
3) If adults are not fresh,
it is necessary to do the clarification of the genitalia. For
this, the genitalia are put into a vial with lactic acid for 15
minutes or the needed time to clarify the structures.
4) Then, the genitalia are
placed into a Petri box with 75% alcohol for 5 minutes.
5) Afterwards, the genitalia
are transferred into another Petri box with isopropyl alcohol
for 5 minutes.
6) A drop of Euparal is placed
on a cleaned microscope slide previously labeled. The genitalia
are put in the Euparal, dissecting the ninth tergite, the aedeagus,
the lateral pieces, and the eighth segment.
7) After placing the cover
glass on the specimen, the slide is placed into the oven, following
the above described conditions for drying.
