Synopsis The use of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) for imaging arthropod structures has the potential to profoundly impact the systematics of this group. Three-dimensional visualization of CLSM data provides high-fidelity, detailed images of minuscule structures unobtainable by traditional methods (for example, hand illustration, bright-field light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy). A CLSM data set consists of a stack of 2-D images ("optical slices") collected from a

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... nt, fluorescent specimen of suitable thickness. Small arthropod structures are particularly well suited for CLSM imaging owing to the autofluorescent nature of their tissues. Here, we document the practical aspects of a methodology developed for obtaining image stacks via CLSM from autofluorescent insect cuticular structures. From the symposium "The New Microscopy: Toward a Phylogenetic Synthesis" presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and