Drôle de coupe de cheveux
Plush Moth:
Larva of a sawfly, Cimbex femorata.:
Delirium, featuring Brachypelma smithi spiders:
Idolomantis diabolica - Devil's Flower Mantis:
The Secret Council:
He's back:
Cyclommatus - stag beetles - "locking horns":
We have to admit these critters look well-dressed enough to be admitted to the Royal Ball Dance, or something similarly glamorous.
"Oh... don't mention it" -
(all photos copyright: Igor Siwanowicz, used by permission)
"Mug-shots" for the Micropolitan Gallery
Another gorgeous macro-photography set is on display at Micropolitan Museum. The photos are by Wim van Egmond. Make sure to check out the whole collection. Some mugshots are frankly quite ugly, re-enforcing our general dislike of flies and spiders. All are fascinating, though.
Lacewing
Tiger Beetle with its powerful jaws
Midge's Antennas
The Shield Bug, Coreus marginatus
(images credit: Wim van Egmond)
A Few More Fantastic Insects
Culled from here and there, these faceted visages are prime portrait material, and asking to be framed for your living room. (if your dwelling is cool enough to allow for this)
(images credit: Daniel Aqua)
(image credit: Poras Chaudhary)
(original unknown)
The Moon Moth (Luna Moth):
(image credit: Birds & Blooms, 2004)
Giant Brown Grasshopper, Israel:
(images credit: Botinok)
Weird Aranha Branca "White Spider", similar to these.
(image credit: Sergio Velho Junior)
Treat bugs good and they will do the same to you... maybe.
And Other Fascinating Insects of the Thai Forest
John Moore loves taking pictures of insects, and it helps that he lives in the entomologist' dream location: in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Its forests are teeming with exotic bug varieties, and it will take a lifetime to properly explore them. He started looking for insects in January 2000, and since then had accumulated quite an insect family snapshot album, of which these are only a few examples (published with his permission). Let's start with caterpillars; some of a cuddly, furry, "big-eyed" variety, others a bit more dangerous.
Some of the caterpillars shown: Limacodidae, Brahmaea hearseyi, Achelura (Zygaenidae), Nymphalidae, Calliteara horsfeldii
Amazing Caterpillar Fact:
Faecal Firing: Some leaf-rolling caterpillars fire faecal pellets from their anuses... be careful out there.
Spiny spiders (Gasteracantha sp.) are only 4-10mm. in size but build strong vertical webs:
Some spiny spiders look like flying saucers:
This is not a feather, this is a moth:
Microblepsis leucosticta
Mimicry in mantids
John Moore writes: "These tiny flower mantids really do look like small flowers. I found them by a stream in a forest clearing. They are all are young Hymenopus coronatus."
This one looks like a leaf - Phyllium celebicum female
This page gives some interesting facts about mantids:
- Eats only live prey, or at least prey that is moving, and hence, appears alive
- Often begins to undulate and sway just before striking its prey. Possibly to mimic the movement of surrounding foliage, but it could be that this behavior aids in the visualization process.
- How do Mantid's Mate and Reproduce? In many cases female eats the male.
(which serves as a source of protein for the female and her young) By the way, the male willing offers himself to be eaten.
- After the female deposits the eggs, she dies sometime after her final birthing.
Other fascinating bugs:
Flatidae nymph: also a local delicacy
Tessaratomidae nymphs which arrive at the beginning of the rainy season. They are another local delicacy.
Must be an acquired taste...
See more insect photography at Thaibugs.com/
