Tag: photograph

Beetles on flowers

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I took this photo while I was teaching on a field course in Spain earlier this month (harder work than it sounds).  It was a nice opportunity to try out my camera (which I have been trying and failing to do on this blog) as spring is in full swing over there.  I was amazed by the diversity of animals that I only found on flowers (although part of that might have been that the flower-dwellers were more noticeable…), but I was surprised to see what look like two different life history stages of potentially the same species on a single flower.  Does anybody know what this beetle is…?

UPDATE 21/7/13: My friend Patrick suggests that it could be Cryptocephalus rugicollis.  Looks like a good call to me!

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Looks a bit gormless, to be honest…
Classic “dead spider pose”
A bit more dignified, after I had rearranged him to look a bit less dead.. The fade to black in the background wasn’t intentional, but I like it!
A ventral (stomach) view. This species is quite easy to confuse with a harvestman (related to spiders, but not spiders), if you don’t know what to look for. To tell harvestmen from spiders, look for the join between the thorax (the body segment with legs) and the abdomen (the segment that doesn’t have legs). If you can see the join clearly where there is a “pinched-off” section then it is a spider. Harvestmen have fused segments so that it looks like the thorax and abdomen are one.

52 Weeks of Photography: Week 4 (Dave the spider)

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First, a warning to anyone who doesn’t like spiders: I was trying out my macro again, and there are some pretty big close-ups…   Now that that’s over with, this week I wanted to try out a new toy.  I had been hoping that my new light box would arrive for last week’s macro attempt, […]

Wasp – this one adopted this stranger pose when I dumped him out of the box. I made me think of Rodin’s “Thinker”…
The Flying Spaghetti Monster, in all his noodly majesty… (or maybe an old spider)
Woodlouse
Many moths (as you might expect from a light fitting)
A few beetles
I liked the colours that this fly managed to retain (I have no idea how long any of these have been stuck there!)
I struggled to get high-quality photos without more magnification, so here are some pins :-)

52 Weeks of Photography: Week 3 (Insect Graveyards)

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Last week I mentioned being inspired by this fascination post from Dragonfly Woman, who looked at the diversity of insects that had passed-on in various light fittings around her home.  I thought I would try the same thing, as it gives an opportunity to get close to the wee beasties without them running away.  Here’s the result: […]

This is the clear favourite from the trip. Shot with the Raynox macro attachment, with flash to provide the contrast. Not perfect, but I like how it came out.
More moss, this time with lots of fruiting bodies standing to attention.
This was the first shot of the day – you can see the frost on each of the fronds.
The entrance to the path along Woodhouse Ridge. I like the symmetry :-)
I’m not sure what it is about this photo, but I like it. It could be the muted colours and the gentle meander of the path…
This cat followed me for quite a while before hopping off into the bush
The best view of the sky that I managed (and not great at all even then!). Looking south from the end of Woodhouse Ridge.

52 Weeks of Photography: Week 2 (An Early Morning)

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So originally this was going to be a post full of wonderful sunrise photographs.  Unfortunately, a combination of cloudy British skies and a slope that refused (no matter how much I willed it) to turn to face the south-east  conspired against me.  Instead, I had a good chance to try out my macro attachment.  I […]

Mantids!

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Newly-hatched preying mantis - isn't he cute!?

So our lab ordered some mantids from Home Depot (which don’t seem to be available so I presume it’s a seasonal product) for predation experiments. I was under the impression that they needed specific conditions to hatch that wouldn’t be met until next June. Then someone noticed one crawling over a desk. Sure enough, there were a few dozen wandering aimlessly about, migrating away from the egg case that was sitting in a corner of the lab. I think we got most of them, but those that we didn’t catch should take care of our fruitfly problem!