~Allacma fusca var. pustulata~

I was overjoyed to find these at a new location at Colwick Woods, I found a few, but this one was the only one that stayed put, even though she wasn't in the best position, I did my best. This is the spotty version of a female Allacma fusca, they are the same species, this is just the rarer female pustulata form. It was also interesting to note that it did seem to change colour in a few frames of the stack, but that might have been the gut moving food about just below the surface of the back.

 

This was a 14 image handheld focus stack at F/5.6 with the MP-E at x5 on a 1.4x teleconverter, giving a magnification of x7, this one was about 2mm long. It really was a wicked day, photographed Dragonflies in the morning and found loads of Springtails and Pseudoscorpions in the afternoon at Colwick Woods, this little lady was the real highlight though :o)

 

Some info from Frans :-

var. pustulata is not just another colour variant of Allacma fusca, it is in fact the female form. Allacma fusca shows sexual dimorphism. While the males are more homogeneous in colour the females are distinctly spotted, especially in the pharate phase just before moulting.

 

 

Crop and a few bits in comments :o)

 

 

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Done