Reflective Saharan Silver Ant Hairs Thermoregulate, Create Bright Color (2 of 3) (IMAGE)

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Reflective Saharan Silver Ant Hairs Thermoregulate, Create Bright Color (2 of 3)

Caption

These are electron microscopy images of the hairs covering the dorsal side of the body of C. bombycina. (a) Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the hairs covering the cuticle of ants. Hairs have a triangular shape and end in a sharp point. (b) Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of the cross-section of a hair. The two upper sides of the triangular shape are corrugated and the lower side (the triangle base) is flat. (c) Close up on the corrugations covering the two upper side of the triangular shape. (d) TEM image of hairs shows that they all adopt the same orientation, with their flat basal side parallel to each other and to the cuticle surface. The corrugated sides of the hairs are turned up as is clearly visible on image (a).

Credit

Willot et al.

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