The use of autofluorescence of the pharyngeal pump complex in Pygmephoridae (Acari: Heterostigmata) as a new taxonomic aid

摘要

We propose the use of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) to examine the shape of the pharyngeal pump complex in Pygmephoridae in order to distinguish among different genera and to distinguish among closely related species within genera. Heavily sclerotised structures in the exoskeleton obscure the real shape of the pharyngeal pump complex when using conventional light microscopy. The shape of examined pharyngeal pumps depended on the orientation of the gnathosoma of the mites after mounting.However, by making use of the muscular pharyngeal pump units that autofluoresce when illuminated with light of the correct wavelength, one is now able with CLSM to compile 3D virtual images of these structures and rotate them about different axes in order to determine their real shape.