About worm stages

I have a very basic and important question. What is the easy and exact way to distinguish differe stages of worm (4 lava stages and also young adult) under dissecting microscope? I would be very grateful if a commom way to distinguish the stage of mutant (like dumpy and long) is given.

Hi Freshie -

It sounds like you are asking two different questions – or maybe even three. Do you want to distinguish the wild-type larval stages? Do you want to distinguish Dpy or Lon mutants? Or do you want to distinguish the larval stages of Dpy or Lon mutants?

You might have a look at this Introduction to Worm Anatomy at WormAtlas.

Todd

sorry not being specify. I wanto know if there are simple discriptions about worm stages uder dissecting microscopy. For example, L4 is distinguishable by its vulva.