paste and coated with gold in a vacuum evaporator (JEE 400, JEOL,
Tokyo, Japan). The microstructure was observed under a scanning
electron microscope (JEOL, model 5200, Tokyo, Japan) with accelerating
voltage of 10 kV. The thickness of the cuticle was estimated
from SEM micrographs and calculated in Image J1.29X software
(National Institutes of Health, USA). The result was the mean of
thirty measurements made in different locations.