Study of the anatomy of the common housefly Musca domestica Linnaeus, 1758 (Insecta: Diptera, Muscidae) scanned with the Skyscan 1172 high resolution micro-CT Javier Alba-Tercedor 1 1 Department of Zoology. Faculty of Sciences. University of Granada. Campus de Fuentenueva s/n. 18071-Granada. Spain. jalba@ugr.es Aims Since the early beginnings of the Zoology, the study of the anatomy of little animals has been a challenge for researchers who developed many different techniques to be able to dissect them in a non-destructive way permitting to observe the internal organs and structures. Nowadays with the developments of the micro-CT techniques we have a very “attractive” and useful tool for that purpose. However, the preparation of the samples before to get the scan images and final volume rendering reconstructions still need particular essays to increase the knowledge permitting to generalize the use giving successful final reconstructions images. In previous papers we publish our experiences and the results obtained with some little invertebrate animals (Alba-Tercedor & Sánchez- Tocino 2011 & 2012; Alba-Tercedor & Sáinz-Cantero, 2010, 2012; Verdú et al., 2012). Following with this line we decided to continue enhancing the experience and in this case to investigate the common housefly. There are studies on this species, with references to the anatomy, since the eighteen century. However, It is not until the beginning of the twentieth century when Hewitt (1907) publish a detailed description, with nice illustrations of the anatomy. He used classical micro-anatomical reconstructions techniques to be able to obtain the final illustrations. Moreover he performed a technique that basically could remember what, nowadays, the micro-tomographic volume rendering reconstruction does. It worthwhile to cite how Hewitt described the procedure he followed: “The structure of the thoracic ganglion was studied by means of reconstructions. The method employed was as follows:—The sections were drawn by means of the camera lucida on Bristol board of a thickness proportional to the magnification. They were afterwards cut out and seccotined together. The resulting model was trimmed and soaked in melted paraffin, taken out and dipped several times till a thin coating of paraffin covered the model. This was then trimmed down to the original size, all the interstices having been filled by the paraffin. After a coating of graphite it was electrotyped with copper. ln this way a permanent model was obtained”. Thereafter, we decided to study this common species with the micro-CT. Method Fresh collected animals were preserved in 70% ethanol. Later we essay two differ-rent methods: a) a mild stain by submerging them in a solution of iodine in ethanol (1% iodine metal dissolved in 100% ethanol) for 3 hours, b) without staining, but with a dehydration submerging then i100% ethanol for 1 hour. In both cases were later submerged for 2 hours in Hexamethyldisilazane and air drying overnight (Alba-Tercedor & Sánchez Tocino (2011 & 2012). To fix the specimens on the sample holder we essayed two techniques: a) a small cylindrical piece of polystyrene, with a hole excavated in the center where the abdomen and partially the thorax was introduced, and two lateral