Biting Power, Pt. 2 - _TNY_9644
While at my mom's summer house back in late July, I walked by one of the water barrels in the garden and noticed something moving on the surface.
That something turned out to be a very black beetle so I put my hand down in the water next to it and it eagerly climbed up on my finger.
That's when I noticed the spectacular pair of mandibles on it which at first it was trying to sink into my finger! - but then decided against it and raised it's head instead.
Thankful for this, I set it down on a piece of wood and began trying to figure out what it was.
While I figured out that this is a longhorn beetle known as the black longicorn beetle (Spondylis buprestoides), it stayed completely still there for me so I could experiment a bit with how to photograph it.
The shiny and black armour really sucked in all the light so it took a while before I had shots showing more than just a black hole.
If you zoom in on it you'll notice that there are a couple of very small little somethings on its head and even on one of the mandibles. These are springtails (Collembola, possibly Isotomidae sp. - thanks FransJanssens@www.collembola.org.) which aren't in any way parasitizing on the beetle. They were most likely stuck in the water as well and climbed onto the beetle to get out of there.
Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52246969777/
Biting Power, Pt. 2 - _TNY_9644
While at my mom's summer house back in late July, I walked by one of the water barrels in the garden and noticed something moving on the surface.
That something turned out to be a very black beetle so I put my hand down in the water next to it and it eagerly climbed up on my finger.
That's when I noticed the spectacular pair of mandibles on it which at first it was trying to sink into my finger! - but then decided against it and raised it's head instead.
Thankful for this, I set it down on a piece of wood and began trying to figure out what it was.
While I figured out that this is a longhorn beetle known as the black longicorn beetle (Spondylis buprestoides), it stayed completely still there for me so I could experiment a bit with how to photograph it.
The shiny and black armour really sucked in all the light so it took a while before I had shots showing more than just a black hole.
If you zoom in on it you'll notice that there are a couple of very small little somethings on its head and even on one of the mandibles. These are springtails (Collembola, possibly Isotomidae sp. - thanks FransJanssens@www.collembola.org.) which aren't in any way parasitizing on the beetle. They were most likely stuck in the water as well and climbed onto the beetle to get out of there.
Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52246969777/