Post your BUG pictures

[Keith]

Here is an ichneumon wasp I spotted last weekend, on the same fallen tree that I was photographing some ear fungi on, in another post.
View attachment 64577

I knew they laid their eggs in caterpillars, but didn’t realize they were capable of using that long ovipositor to drill down through wood like she is on, to deposit her egg into a grub down in the wood. It turns out she emits an enzyme that softens the wood enabling her to do that. Dang, isn’t nature incredible!!!
View attachment 64578

I can’t find an edit button, so I’ll use reply to make a correction.
The wasp with the red abdomen is likely in the genus Atanycolus, a braconid, not ichneumonid.
According to,
Chris Carlton, Ph. D.
Director, Carlton Astronomy Campus
Professor of Entomology, Emeritus
Department of Entomology, Louisiana State University

 

[Keith]

Also from my outing last weekend, I managed to get a couple of shots of this Bumble bee- mimic robber-fly before I pull get in as close as I would have liked before it flew.
Robber fly, genus Laphria



I wish I could have gotten a lot closer, and spent more time with this little beast!

 

[Archibald]

This is an interesting case of an “operator error” being rescued by PS CC.

This Paper Wasp nest scene was taken with a tripod mounted EOS R5, RF 100mm F2.8L IS USM and a Novoflex BAL-EOSR Auto Bellows for Canon RF-Mount.

I set the RF 100mm F2.8L to Manual Focus and made ¼ turns of what I thought was the Macro Rail screw, which would have moved the camera/lens inwards in small increments as I took each of 10 shots.

BUT – I accidentally turned the Bellows extension screw instead, so as I took each shot, the Bellows Unit was extending thus increasing the size of the Wasps.

I wasn’t looking at the rear LCD otherwise I would have noticed the nest getting larger, as the magnification increased with each ¼ turn of the Bellows extension screw.

When I uploaded the 10 files into LR I spotted my error. However, PS CC was able to automatically Edit-Align and Edit-Blend the 10 frames and compensate for the changing perspective and magnification changes.

Dennis.

View attachment 65049

View attachment 65050

Rescued by the software! I would have never known.

 

[Dennis]

Rescued by the software! I would have never known.

Yes - I was astonished when PS CC was able to Align the 10 frames to compensate for my error.

Here is Frame #1 and Frame #10 overlaid with #1 set to 50% so you can see the extent of the differences due to the increased magnification.

Dennis.

EDIT:
I just punched the 10 frames through Helicon Focus, which also successfully Aligned the 10 frames with no visible artefacts.

 

[Skygod44]

Not looking for insects today (I was flower hunting ), so it was no surprise when I came upon insects on the flowers and leaves.

This is a baby てほし天道虫 (te-hoshi tentô mushi) Ten-spot Japanese Ladybird.

I didn't have all the right gear on me, so tried to hold the leaf steady enough for a natural light shot.
But my heart-beat made these tricky.




Tiny-but-cute

 

[S.R.M.]

A cool cat(erpillar) in my garden today... the Cup Moth Anaxidia lozogramma.

Anaxidia lozogramma by Stephen Mudge, on Flickr

 

[Archibald]

A cool cat(erpillar) in my garden today... the Cup Moth Anaxidia lozogramma.

Anaxidia lozogramma by Stephen Mudge, on Flickr

Amazing colors and scary spikes. They don't look good to eat.

 

[S.R.M.]

Amazing colors and scary spikes. They don't look good to eat.

Thanks, Ed! Those spikes can give you a nasty sting, so I kept my fingers out of the way.

 

[Skygod44]

An old shot, but so spiky, I thought it deserved another outing.

 

[Skygod44]

Another oldie.
I recall that I noticed a tiny red dot moving slowly, on the tiles of my old balcony.
It was only with all the macro gear I had at the time that I could see that it was alive.

 

[Skygod44]

A Japanese Wolf Spider.
Approximately the same size as my hand.
(I hate spiders, btw)





Yes.
It was in the sink in our kitchen!
I nearly peed myself!

 

[Skygod44]

A stacked, greeny-yellow bug (that's the Latin name ), using CZP software.

 

[Skygod44]

And a drunk fly.

 

[Archibald]

And a drunk fly.

View attachment 66040

Yeah, they like to blow bubbles. I've heard it's to cool off.

Great batch of bug pics today!! (Not sure about the spider, though! I have arachnophobia. I still shoot them sometimes.)

 

[Skygod44]

...// I have arachnophobia. I still shoot them sometimes.)

Thanks so much...
...but yeah, me too: I'm a Brit, so to me spiders are teeny-weeny little things which are just plain freaky.
So when I heard a Japanese Wolf Spider after it fell off a bookshelf, I actually screamed like a schoolgirl.

 

[Archibald]

Thanks so much...
...but yeah, me too: I'm a Brit, so to me spiders are teeny-weeny little things which are just plain freaky.
So when I heard a Japanese Wolf Spider after it fell off a bookshelf, I actually screamed like a schoolgirl.

Oh dear.... it's getting close to bed time here, gotta put that out of my mind.

 

[Archibald]

A lovely blue damselfly from Costa Rica. Might be Oculate Dancer, Argia oculata.

 

[Skygod44]

Oh dear.... it's getting close to bed time here, gotta put that out of my mind.

They really are terrifying.

 

[S.R.M.]

Another shot of the Cup Moth caterpillar (Anaxidia lozogramma) in my backyard.

Anaxidia lozogramma by Stephen Mudge, on Flickr

 

[SCALPA]

Proxi: a green fly