View allAll Photos Tagged Insect.
This beautiful Gaillardia wildflower was a popular plant as far as these very tiny insects (Thrips - thanks Lynette!) were concerned. These large flower heads are always a joy to see, adding such bright splashes of yellow to any walk in our natural areas. I photographed this one (and a few others) in Weaselhead on 18 July 2012.
"Thrips (Order Thysanoptera) are tiny, slender insects with fringed wings (thus the scientific name, from the Greek thysanos (fringe) + pteron (wing)[citation needed]). Other common names for thrips include thunderflies, thunderbugs, storm flies, thunderblights, and corn lice. Thrips species feed on a large variety of sources, both plant and animal, by puncturing them and sucking up the contents. A large number of thrips species are considered pests, because they feed on plants with commercial value. Some species of thrips feed on other insects or mites and are considered beneficial, while some feed on fungal spores or pollen. So far around 5,000 species have been described. Thrips are generally tiny (1 mm long or less) and are not good flyers, although they can be carried long distances by the wind. In the right conditions, many species can exponentially increase in population size and form large swarms, making them an irritation to humans."
Also known as the Pellucid Hoverfly, this is one the largest of the true flies (Diptera) found in Britain.
The broad whitish-yellow band across the mid-section of the insect is quite distinctive.
My photograph is of a female, identified by the gap between the eyes. She will lay her eggs in the nests of certain wasps and the larvae will feed on the hosts' young, dead wasps and other nest detritus. Once mature they will leave the nest to pupate in the soil nearby.
Adults emerge from mid-May onwards and are commonly seen until the end of the summer.
RSPB Otmoor. 6.7.2020.
J'ai vu plusieurs Cicindèles hier qui se promenaient ou se posaient sur le sable du seniter au soleil... Au soleil son coprs brille comme un bijou... Un joyau, un émeraude!!
La Cicindèle champêtre est un beau coléoptère vert, parfois bleuâtre, plus rarement noirâtre. C'est un insecte chasseur redoutable d'une grande rapidité et d'un appétit féroce. Elle attrape ses proies à la course et effectue des vols courts en cas de danger. Sa larve, également carnivore, vit dans un terrier vertical où elle attend qu'une proie passe à sa portée.
Six of these hatched out. One died, but this is unsurprising as it had got caught under the tissue paper that was beneath the eggs in the other container, and so had been deformed.
The other five are doing okay. They are very strange in that they seem to stagger around rather than walk, and often fall onto their backs or get stuck to condensation on the side of the tub. One is also missing a couple of legs. Other than those issues, they seem to be doing alright and are fed on eucalyptus which is changed regularly. As you can see, I have the eucalyptus sprig on its side as they don't seem to be very good at climbing and I didn't want to risk them not being able to find the leaves while wandering around.
UPDATE: Unfortunately my cat decided to knock these off the cabinet and onto the floor. As I said, this is a particularly fragile species and so, unsurprisingly, three of them were crushed to death in the fall. This species is proving difficult to rear, and if I do not succeed with this batch, I don't think I will try with achrioptera fallax again.
UPDATE 2: None survived. One more hatched out this morning. I am going to try keeping it in a mess-topped container in case it needs more ventilation.
Neuroptera
Not a very well focused image, but considering that I used a 10X microscope eyepiece and did it handheld it is okay.
The eye spots can be seen through the skin of the egg case. The length of this egg is about 1 mm.
Two walking-stick insects mating in a garden in McDonald's Corners, Ontario Canada. The small brown one is the male and the much larger green one is the female.
A Deep South bee I associate with piney woods on the coastal plain. Rather Herc for a Lasioglossum, but the shade of blue and the dark orangish legs help direct you towards the identification of this species. this one from mysterious and rich in odd bees Cumberland Island, Georgia. Photoshopping by Thistle Droege and Photograph by Lisa Murray.
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All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.
Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200
The murmuring of bees has ceased;
But murmuring of some
Posterior, prophetic,
Has simultaneous come,--
The lower metres of the year,
When nature's laugh is done,--
The Revelations of the book
Whose Genesis is June.
-Emily Dickinson
Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:
Basic USGSBIML set up:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY
USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4
PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:
ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf
Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo
or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU
Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
Contact information:
Sam Droege
sdroege@usgs.gov
301 497 5840
The grasshopper drone is an unpiloted forward attack bug. It leaps across the front lines, fires a couple of plasma bursts at the enemy, and then leaps back. Can be either remotely controlled, or pre-programmed. Unlike a real grasshopper, this drone is incapable of sustained flight - it just jumps really high.
Et comme il y en a au moins 35.000 espèces ... ! Mais il est bien joli, celui-là !
C'est vraiment bizarre les pattes, mandibules, antennes etc ... !
WONDER exhibit, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Jennifer Angus (1961– )
In the Midnight Garden
2015
cochineal, various insects, and mixed media
Courtesy of Jennifer Angus
"Angus's genius is the embrace of what is wholly natural, if unexpected. Yes, the insects are real, and no, she has not altered them except to position their wings and legs. The species in this gallery are not endangered, but in fact are quite abundant, primarily in Malaysia, Thailand, and Papua New Guinea, a corner of the world where Nature seems to play with greater freedom. The pink wash is derived from cochineal insect living on cacti in Mexico, where it has long been prized as the best source of the color red. By altering the context in which we encounter such species, Angus startles us into recognition of what has always been a part of our world."
Spent some time searching for the Katydid in the Four O'Clocks and finally found her lounging on an Ash sapling leaf. 8/4/2021
a rather handsome Red and Black Hopper in the seasonal pond of the old quarry in Hastings Country Park. It was hopping around a second specimen (pictured below) in some form of courtship behaviour
From a series of photographs that I shot of a hatching insect egg, clock-wise from top left. I have also numbered the photographs in sequence.
I had found the eggs laid on the leaf 9 days ago on 27th May, 2007, see picture.
After nine days of patience I was rewarded with these photographs. I just hope that I am lucky enough to be able to photograph the rest of its life cycle.
I am still not sure what it is going to turn into.