科學圖說

葉上的蝌蚪(Tadpoles on a Leaf)

奇怪？蝌蚪何時進化可以不用在水裡了？偶然觀察到這幾隻可愛的幼蟲，形狀像極了小蝌蚪，牠們是「葉蜂幼蟲」。幼蟲口器還很小因而無法啃食葉片，所以用「刮食」葉面表層葉肉的方式進食。葉面經刮食後，猶如被加工過，呈現美麗的葉脈輪廓。幼蟲身體呈現晶瑩剔透的透明狀，還可清晰見體內腸道綠色的葉肉組織呢！

How strange! When did tadpoles evolve to be able to survive outside of water? I unexpectedly came across these adorable sawfly larvae which bear a close resemblance to tadpoles. As the mouthparts of these larvae are very small, they are unable to bite into a leaf and instead “scrape” the mesophyll from the leaf surface. Following scraping, the surface of this leaf appears to have been “processed”, revealing its beautiful veins. These transparent larvae glimmer and it is possible to see the green mesophyll in their intestines!