Image of the Week - 27 May 2003

Microsetae on the Pulvillus of a Beetle Foot

The Setae are tiny hairs usually responsible for adhesion to smooth surfaces. The setae form a pad, the pulvillus, which can be found below the claws on the feet of many beetles and flies. Some setae adhere through capillary adhesion while some secrete sticky substances on each seta. This image is reduced from an 11-MB file collected using Ultrahigh Definition mode on the Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope.

Image Courtesy: cconway@itg.uiuc.edu

Contact: Chas Conway