Staring Contest, Pt. 2 - _TNY_2282S2

Here are two green tiger beetles (Cicindela campestris) from an April 2023 trip to Tyresta by and the main entrance to Tyresta National Park.

 

I was following one of them hoping for it to stop so I could get a decent shot but it spotted another one and ran up to it and they stood there for a couple of seconds directly facing each other, before the one of the right yielded and turned a little to the left.

 

Since I had the MP-E65mm on the camera, this is as far away from the subject as I can get so I had to move a little to the side to be able to fit them both in frame here - but it worked out.

 

Something else that workd out was that they both stayed still for long enough to allow me to change the point of focus and take another shot and then focus stack them for a little extra depth of field.

 

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52851431880/

 

The most distinct visual difference between males and females are the size of the mandibles as the males have bigger ones - but based on that - this would be two females. I'm not sure.

 

Here's a shot where it is easy to see the size difference between the mandibles: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/50283759436/

Done