Collembolan cuticle: wax layer and anti-wetting properties.

Abstract Scanning and transmission electron microscopy have confirmed and elaborated reports of an intricate hexagonal sculpturing on the surface of the cuticle of Tomocerus flavescens, a Collembolan. Differential staining with lanthanum nitrate indicates that the cuticle is covered with a wax layer which, in combination with the sculpturing, renders the cuticle highly hydrophobic.