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Laser cutting microdissection of the cuticle of microarthropods: a case study of eriophyoid mites (Acari, Eriophyoidea)

Fixation is a routine histological procedure that helps preserve biological tissues from decay and preserves it as close to its natural state as possible. Fixing whole animals and staining them with various fluorescent stains is one of the contemporary approaches to study the anatomy of invertebrates. The cuticle of many terrestrial microarthropods can be almost impermeable for fixatives and immunofluorescent dyes, forcing researchers to develop different manipulations to overcome this constraint (for a brief list of these see Chetverikov 2014, p. 418). Actually, an animal can be dissected by hand and investigated piece by piece. However, if the body size is about 500 microns or less this might be challenging because cutting with standard handheld tools (e.g. a blade or a fine needle) usually results in damaging internal organs and extrusions of the body contents (Oldfield 1973, p. 1089; P.C. personal observation).