Bull Neck - _TNY_4730
Quite pleased with both the pose and the light on this 5th instar caterpillar of the common yellow swallowtail (Papilio machaon) shot at 2:1 magnification.
These guys have a neat feature for defense - or at least to make themselves less palatable. This thing is something called an omseterium, a y-shaped organ which they can extend from their forehead and which produces a bad smell.
With some help from my son, I actually managed to disturb one of these enough for it to deploy said osmeterium which looked like this: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53050373683/
Bull Neck - _TNY_4730
Quite pleased with both the pose and the light on this 5th instar caterpillar of the common yellow swallowtail (Papilio machaon) shot at 2:1 magnification.
These guys have a neat feature for defense - or at least to make themselves less palatable. This thing is something called an omseterium, a y-shaped organ which they can extend from their forehead and which produces a bad smell.
With some help from my son, I actually managed to disturb one of these enough for it to deploy said osmeterium which looked like this: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53050373683/