I reveal just how hoverflies keep fit...

I recently had to search through some older images that I have stored on the P.C. for a particular few shots and happened upon a couple of unused photos from earlier in the year.

And so now, they are at last seeing the light of day, as I'll start this update by adding them here...

A Weevil (possibly Stophosoma?)

This large weevil was one that I remember finding in mixed woodland on one of my many walks.

   

The varied carpet beetle (Anthrenus verbasci)

The little beetle pictured above was one that I found in the garden on a white daisy and photographed using a broken lens that had no front glass!

A couple of days ago, my other half said that she'd saved a large beetle that had somehow got itself in an argument with the hoover and lost. Rather than bin it, she had thoughtfully wrapped it in a sheet of kitchen towel, in case I might like to photograph it first?

On unwrapping the towel, I found the beetle you see pictured below-as you can see, it sustained several injuries but I decided it would make an ideal subject for focus stacking....

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR A LARGE VIEW

Lesser Stag Beetle (Dorcus parallelopipedus)

After much consideration, I went for the lesser stag beetle as an identity. Based on the shape of the pronotum and the spine on the tibiae. The other choice would have been a female stag beetle.

I recently posted a photo on flickr of some Sawfly Larvae that were still inside the eggs. It was a shot taken using flash to get as much detail as possible- but I also took a few more natural light photos that give a better overall impression of how they looked in relation to the leaf I found them on...

 Click on photos for a larger view

You can see just how destructive these can be to the host plant, in this case willow. They have only just emerged and yet are demolishing the leaf already.

On the same day I discovered these little things, I also came across some more eggs. This time bug eggs:or at least, bug eggshells, as I think the occupants of these had long gone..

I love those little hinges (or are they catches?) on the eggs. Whichever they are, I am sure they're purpose is to allow an easy exit when the time comes.

I had a second chance to create a focus stack of an insect when I happened upon a lacewing that had somehow managed to fall into a cattle-water trough. At least, I assume it fell in? I certainly didn't push it! In fact, I scooped out several deceased bugs and insects that I may also use for the same purpose.

I photographed these two at x10 mag.

I really will have to try and update the microscope objective from my £1 edition at some stage-it really doesn't have much going for it apart from it is useful to practice with and I suppose, to even get these results is O.K.

Now that most of the summer wild-flowers have finished for this year, it's left to the flea-bane to attract the insects and it does seem to be doing just that. I found a good number of hoverflies on flea-bane in local woodland and even managed to photograph one doing press-ups...

I have included a couple of focus stacked images in this blog entry and this next photo is a good example of how things can go wrong when attempting a hand-held stack in the field.

There's not doubt in my mind that this photo is sharper than a single image would have been, without using a tripod- but there are only two shots that comprise this stack:the third that would have completed it as intended and would have resulted in both wings being in focus, unfortunately was just a little too far out of line to use.

The only other thing to report in this entry is the return of the harvestmen. As you would expect at this time of year, they are emerging in numbers and a variety of shapes, sizes and colours right now...

Dicranopalus ramosus

Until the next time then...

How many shieldbugs make an autumn?

September means that even if we don't want to admit that autumn is here, it's certainly on its way. Autumn can be a good time to spot some of our native invertebrates though-dragonfly numbers are peaking and adult shieldbugs can be quite numerous, including Sloe Bugs, Forest Bugs, the tree dwelling 'Troilus luridus' and the ever present Green Shieldbug.

One of the smaller shieldbugs that seem to be quite numerous around early autumn time, is the Birch Shieldbug (Elasmostethus interstinctus) and both the nymphs and adults are quite striking...

Click on any photo for a larger view

I think these two pictures above show what are probably 3rd instar nymphs of the Birch Shieldbug. They were quite small and reasonably fast moving.

A slightly larger nymph

A final instar nymph

All of the nymphs featured here were found in the same spot, a birch tree beside a local pond. Some were underneath the leaves and others quite easy to spot against the darker upper-side of a leaf.

There were also a number of the adult insects on the same tree...

The adult

As you can see, they are very colourful little bugs. These shots have not been enhanced in any way either; it was a dull day and had been raining before I took these photos, hence the sheen some of them have but other than reducing the size to upload to the blog, this is exactly how they looked.

The birch tree in question seemed to have a thriving little shieldbug community as I also found a couple of parent bugs as well...

A Parent Bug

I shouldn't have been surprised I suppose at finding this bug-after all, it is associated with birch as well. Once again these are beautifully coloured bugs and like the green shieldbugs, hibernate through the winter months.

This one may be lucky to make it to winter, as those white spots on it's back are parasites. I've seen this species with the same parasite before and I think they are Tachinid fly parasites:they are laid in this position where it is almost impossible for the bug to remove them.

The parent bug gets its name from the females habit of sitting on her eggs and nymphs to protect them from parasites and I've often wondered if she has become the target rather than her offspring?

Troilus luridus

Troilus luridus is another tree dwelling shieldbug and is quite a bit larger than both the birch and parent bugs. It is also a predatory bug, rather than feeding on plants.

This photo shows a final instar Troilus luridus nymph feeding on a large caterpillar. I watched this take place and the caterpillar had no chance of escape-it was busy feeding when the nymph sidled up to it and inserted its proboscis before the larva could do anything at all;although, even given time, I'm not sure what it could have done?

Those then are some of the recent shieldbugs that I've found whilst out walking locally-in case you are thinking of trying to locate some for yourself, here's a snap of the tree and habitat where I found most of mine...

Until the next time then...

All photos in this blog entry taken with the 100mm macro leans and natural light only-I used my Canon 40d camera.