Term of Award

Summer 1988

Degree Name

Master of Science in Biology

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Department

Department of Biology

Committee Chair

Wayne A. Krissinger

Committee Member 1

Sara Neville Bennett

Committee Member 2

Denson Kelly McClain

Abstract

The surface morphology of eyes of normal and glass-eyed mutants of the mosquitoes Eretmapodites quinquevittatus Theobald is described using scanning electron microscopy. Normal-eyed mosquitoes have large eyes composed of hundreds of corneal lenses which have a hexagonal shape and are arranged in an organized symmetry of rows and columns. The glass-eyed mutant mosquitoes have areas devoid of corneal lenses in the anteromedial and anteroventral regions of the eye. The corneal lenses of the mutant have lost the organized symmetry of rows and columns in some areas and are more circular in shape. The eyes of the glass-eyed mutants have a reduced number of corneal lenses in all of the standardized regions (anterodorsal, anteromedial, posterolateral, anteroventral). The area of corneal lenses is larger in the glass-eyed mutants than in the normal eyed mosquitoes with the largest corneal lenses occuring in the mutant areas (anteromedial and anteroventral standardized regions).

The histology of eyes of normal and glass-eyed mutant mosquitoes of E. quinquevittatusis described using light microscopy. The structure of the normal-eyed mosquito ommatidium is very similar to that of ommatidia of other mosquitoes previously described. In the glass-eyed mutants the regions where corneal lenses are absent also lack the other components of the ommatidial unit and have a thickened, pigmented cuticle instead of a transparent cuticular corneal surface. Areas of the eye, where corneal lenses do exist, have ommatidia with cellular organization similar to that of the normal-eyed mosquito ommatidium.

OCLC Number

1032070019

Copyright

To obtain a full copy of this work, please visit the campus of Georgia Southern University or request a copy via your institution's Interlibrary Loan (ILL) department. Authors and copyright holders, learn how you can make your work openly accessible online.

Download

Files over 10MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "Save as..."

Share

COinS