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Purpuricenus desfontainii ⚤

I found this lovely couple of longhorn beetles on Sunday, copulating in the most romantic place in the world, an enormous flower-bed, the umbel of a wild carrot (Daucus carota). I don't think they knew that seeds of this plant have long been used as a form of birth control (according to wikipedia).

 

I photographed them with my MP-E lens at 1:1, because they were quite big (photo is uncropped): almost 2cm long, without the antennae. They were a difficult subject, dark bodies on white flowers, but no detail was lost, thanks to the dynamic range of the 5D's sensor :)

 

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Uploaded on May 11, 2010
Taken on May 9, 2010