Extended depth of focus ultraviolet imaging compared with laser scanning confocal microscopy for the study of micro- Arthropoda surface texture, with the description of a new species of Brachypodopsis (Acari: Hydrachnidia)

Abstract

Visualization and representation are two processes at the core of basic biodiversity studies. Visualization involves the examination, sorting, and evaluation of similarities and differences among specimens by specialists who then assign them to the same or different species. It is a cognitive process. Representing involves transmitting the knowledge obtained in the first step to others, usually specialists of the group under study, generally through written descriptions aided by representative drawings and/or images. In this work, I describe a new species of water mite, Brachypodopsis guillermoi n. sp. (Acari, Hydrachnidia), from the island of Coiba off the Pacific coast of Panama, using both laser scanning confocal microscopy and extended depth of focus microscopy with visible (wavelength: 400–700 nm) and ultraviolet (wavelength: 365 nm) light. A comparison of the surface texture representation obtained from these imaging methods suggests that extended depth of focus ultraviolet microscopy can be a cost-effective alternative to laser scanning confocal microscopy for the description of exoskeletal features of micro-arthropods.