Juvenile developmental stages of the trap-jaw ants Odontomachus bauri (Emery, 1892), Odontomachus brunneus (Patton, 1894), and Odontomachus meinerti (Forel, 1905)
Description
This dataset is supplementary to the publication “On the larvae of some trap-jaw ants, Odontomachus Latreille (HYMENOPTERA, FORMICIDAE): Morphology and Biological Notes” on Myrmecological News, 2017. All raw data pertaining the project is enclosed to any readers wishing to peruse details and others interested in expanding views and insights into this topic. These include: - All measurements obtained from the larvae of the three species used for the analyses described in that paper; - All obtained SEM images for juvenile stages of each of the three species; - Obtained light microscopy images of Odontomachus brunneus used for measuring that species; - R script behind the preparation of Figure 1 figuring in the above mentioned paper.
Files
Steps to reproduce
Methods for fixation and preservation of larvae as presented are already described in details in our series of papers. In brief they are fixed and preserved in ethanol 70-80% and either (i) boiled in 10% KOH for clarification prior to mounting in a drop of glycerine on glass slides or (ii) dehydrated towards 100% ethanol prior to critical-point drying and mounting on stubs for gold-coating and observation under a SEM system. Larvae mounted and digitalised by different methods should produce compatible results, given species diagnosis was correct. Measuring specimens can be made by different means (micrometric eyepiece; measuring pictures on software) and should result in some differences whether measurements are made from fresh (more difficult) or fixed (prone to alterations) specimens.