2014 Photomicrography Competition

Acari (arachnid)

Jacek Myslowski

Location
Wloclawek, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland
Technique
Polarized Light and Oblique
Magnification
100x

Trichinella worm

Dr. Nathan P. Myhrvold

Affiliation
Intellectual Ventures
Bellevue, Washington, USA
Technique
Hoffman Modulation Contrast, Focus Stacking
Magnification
40x

This is a female parasitic worm of the species can infect people who eat raw meat with trichinosis. This is the free swimming adult phase of the life cycle which lives in the gut of an infected host. There it reproduces producing eggs that are shed in feces. In another phase of the life cycle the worms encyst themselves in muscle tissue where they are passed to animals - including humans - that eat the tissue.

Myrmecolax sp. head, ventral view

Dr. Yuta Nakase

Affiliation
National Museum of Nature and Science
Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Technique
Focus Stacking, Reflected Light
Magnification
10x