Unknown Insect Under The Microscope 🔬

A great place to find all sorts of bugs is the front grill of your car, especially a car that had travelled far along a freeway. I collected a few specimens, some sort of whole, others in pieces. Because the insects have been dead for some time, they are fragile and brittle. Afraid I would destroy the insect while mounting it, I decided to place the specimen into a relaxing jar for a day or two to soften.

I made a relaxing jar by placing water and rubbing alcohol together into a glass jar. Then I placed the specimen onto a smaller container (without lid) and had it floating in the jar. Then I closed the lid and waited a day or two; making sure I check the specimen to make sure mould doesn’t appear. The rubbing alcohol in the water should ensure this does not happen.

I have ordered online some new concave slides which are taking their sweet time getting here. So in order to mount this unknown insect without squishing it so much I decided to make my own little well on the slide. I used PVA glue to create the walls then allowed it to dry. Once dried, I proceeded to place the insect inside and filled it with clear nail polish before placing the coverslip on top.

Looking at the underside of this insect we can see lots of spots. Also its toes, if I can call them that, look like a small 5 petal flower lol. What I found interesting were its legs coming out from the same spot in the middle. Also its red eyes were pretty cool to look at. Furthermore this bubble here I think adds a bit of art to the slide hahaha It seems like the insect is holding it. From afar it looks like it is dancing. (see the first picture in this post).

Looking closer we can see the some finer details. But what interested me was this part that goes from the mouth all the way down like a spine which looks as though its external rather than internal.

So does anyone know what sort of insect this is?