25 terrifying microscope images of common critters
Not too long ago we showed you 15 of this year's best electron microscope images, delivered unto the world by the Oregon-based microscope makers at FEI. Well, you'd never know it, but there was actually something missing from that gallery: the gruesome and horrifying bug close-ups.
DVICE writer and bug-o-phobe Evan Ackerman wouldn't include the gross critters, no matter how amazing and otherworldly they looked. Well, I will.
Here are 25 scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of everyone's favorite creepy crawlies like you've never seen them before. How many can you click through before you get the willies? I saved what I think is the weirdest and grossest for last.
Now, without any further delay: tonight's nightmares, brought to you by DVICE.
Via FEI
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A parasitic mite on a mosquito larva. (Photo: Nicole Ottawa/FEI)
A parasitic mite on a mosquito larva. (Photo: Nicole Ottawa/FEI)
A parasitic mite on a mosquito larva. (Photo: Nicole Ottawa/FEI)
Baby tick. (Photo: Janna Collier/FEI)
A fly's "sponging mouthparts." Sounds delicious. (Photo: Xia Xiaofei/FEI)
A marine worm. (Photo: Philippe Crassous/FEI)
Hydrothermal worm. (Photo: Philippe Crassous/FEI)
Hydrothermal worm. (Photo: Philippe Crassous/FEI)
Marine worm. (Photo: Philippe Crassous/FEI)
Eyes of a mosquito. (Photo: Oliver Meckes/FEI)
Leg of a fly. (Photo: Riccardo Antonelli/FEI)
A bug "found on window sill." (Photo: Angela Griffin/FEI)
Butterfly wing segments. (Photo: Daniel Mathys/FEI)
A fly's hairy back. (Photo: Ivan Jimenez Boone/FEI)
Mosquito's gnarly face. (Photo: Alyssa Calabro/FEI)
A whitefly looking decidedly yellow. (Photo: Ken Tiekotter/FEI)
What a caterpillar's mouth really looks like. (Photo: Miranda Waldron/FEI)
This is called "whitefly surrendering." What is it? We don't know, but we maybe don't want to. (Photo: Laura Schlimgen/FEI)
Spider! (Photo: Oliver Meckes/FEI)
Moth head. (Photo: Angelika Reichmann/FEI)
A caterpillar's head. (Photo: Oliver Meckes/FEI)
Worm Polychaeta. (Photo: Philippe Crassous/FEI)
A bee's face. (Photo: Laura Tormo Cifuentes/FEI)
Ant face! (Photo: Frank Tsao/FEI)
Argulus freshwater parasite⦠or the underside of a spaceship. (Photo: Ken Bart/FEI)
