Figure 1
From: First record of a new microsporidium pathogenic to Gonipterus platensis in Brazil
Disease diagnosis for the new microsporidiosis in symptomatic adult beetles and spore load in infected beetles. (A) Field-collected Gonipterus platensis adult beetles depicting visible symptoms of microsporidiosis disease. (a) Spread pair of wings exposing the abnormal and shrivelled abdomen; (b) Side view of a dead insect showing the membranous pair of wings extended from the elytra; (c) Wingless adult with abnormal abdomen. (d) Dorsal view of the abnormal abdomen. (B) Microsporidian spores found in the haemolymph of G. platensis adults, observed under a phase contrast microscope. Scale bar = 25 µm. (C) Electron micrograph of a longitudinal section of a mature microsporidian spore. The nucleus (binucleate, N), exospore (Ex), endospore (En), plasma membrane (PM), polar filament (PF) coiling posterolaterally around central diplokaryon showing 8 coils, and posterior vacuole (PV) are visible. Scale bar = 1 µm. (D) Density of spores per insect determined by enumerating the spore load from smeared symptomatic beetles and performing counts under a phase contrast microscope using a Neubauer chamber at × 400 magnification. (symbols on the boxplot: circle = data points, triangle = mean).
