Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
One of my favorite insect artists is Rick Lieder, whose skill at composition with natural light is unparalleled. Yesterday afternoon I visited Meadowbrook park at sunset to have a go at practicing my own natural light photography. I’ve got a long way to go to match Rick’s talent with the medium, but I was pleased [...]
…because new comments pile up on a three year old blog post. We’re nearly at 100 comments, including some real gems: These things are tough! You can step on them with all your weight and it will only stun them. The best way I’ve found to exterminate them is by repeatedly smashing them with a [...]
Monday’s mystery wasn’t the first time Dendroides has appeared on this blog. Last year I photographed the characteristically flattened larvae of this colorful beetle. Three points to Gordon Snelling for the order, three to Matt Bertone for the family, and four to Kojun Kanda for the genus. This one only took eleven minutes to guess- [...]
By the end of the week we bug bloggers are so discombobulated we can’t keep straight what insects we’re supposed to be writing about. As you know, I sometimes stray from ants and post the occasional Friday beetle. Now fly guy Morgan Jackson has taken up Friday Ant Blogging, and coleopterist Ted MacRae is taking advantage [...]
The popular image of a lady beetle is a red insect with black spots. But lady beetles- Coccinellidae- are a diverse family holding species of various patterns and colors. The distinctive twice-stabbed lady beetle, Chilocorus stigma, sports a pair of red spots. photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 7D [...]
If I had to make a list of strangest-looking insects, I’d include Madagascar’s giraffe-necked weevils. From the BBC:
Another gem from Attenborough’s “Life” series: Plus, I’ll give a bonus Myrmecos point to the first person to identify the ants to species.
The varied carpet beetle Anthrenus verbasci is perhaps the most common coleopteran in North America. That doesn’t stop it from being pretty. This individual was one of about 500 having a rolicking Anthrenus convention in our chives. photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x lens on a Canon EOS 7D ISO 100, f/13, 1/250 sec, diffuse twin [...]
What were yesterday’s psychedelic speckles? They were elytral ornaments of the magical mystery Elaphrus, a ground beetle that spends its time lurking about the edges of waterways looking suspiciously like a miniature tiger beetle even though it isn’t. So: Eight points to Ben Coulter who guessed the genus almost before I posted the challenge. Two [...]
You don’t need a tropical vacation to find spectacularly-colored animals. One of the more common spring insects in eastern North America is the lovely six-spotted tiger beetle Cicindela sexguttata. Tiger Beetles are conspicuous insects with a devoted following among amateur and professional entomologists alike. Because they are often identifiable through photographs, tiger beetles are a [...]
A personal weblog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Myrmecos- derived from the ancient greek word for "ant"- hosts Alex's musings about these and other little creatures that share our planet.
Questions? Comments? Email alwild [at] myrmecos.net
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