Spectroscopic parameters of the cuticle and ethanol extracts of the fluorescent cave isopod Mesoniscus graniger (Isopoda, Oniscidea)

Abstract. The body surface of the terrestrial isopod Mesoniscus graniger (Frivaldsky, 1863) showed blue autofluorescence under UV light (330–385 nm), using epifluorescence microscopy and also in living individuals under a UV lamp with excitation light of 365 nm. Some morphological cuticular structures expressed a more intense autofluorescence than other body parts. For this reason, only the cuticle was analyzed. The parameters of autofluorescence were investigated using spectroscopic methods (molecular spectroscopy in infrared, ultraviolet-visible, fluorescence, and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy) in samples of two subspecies of Mesoniscus graniger preserved in ethanol. Samples excited by UV light (from 350 to 380 nm) emitted blue light of wavelengths 419, 420, 441, 470 and 505 nm (solid phase) and 420, 435 and 463 (ethanol extract). The results showed that the autofluorescence observed from living individuals may be due to some β-carboline or coumarin derivatives, some crosslinking structures, dityrosine, or due to other compounds showing similar excitation-emission characteristics.