Whether it’s the claws of a carnivorous caterpillar or the clashing mandibles of warring ants, the most fascinating insect-parts are often the smallest – and we love getting a good look. Macrophotography is one of the best ways to do just that, and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab‘s collection offers some of the best close-up views of insects we’ve seen.
https://gizmodo.com/a-guide-to-the-ravenous-hellbeast-that-is-the-carnivoro-1032957256
https://gizmodo.com/macrophotographs-of-ant-warfare-are-downright-epic-936696588
The Lab’s Flickr album comprises over 1,200 macro-images captured by photographer and lab director Sam Droege at sites throughout the U.S., Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Droege’s subjects include not just bees, but a variety of plants and insects that bees interact with. Above, for instance, is a head-on shot of a North American paper wasp, photographed in Beltsville, Maryland earlier this year. Like the dimple-riddled headgear of this stinkbug, the minute details of the wasp’s head are revealed here through a photo-editing technique called “stacking.”
https://gizmodo.com/this-is-what-a-honeybee-looks-like-as-it-loses-its-stin-5918909
https://gizmodo.com/these-cthulhu-esque-photos-will-change-the-way-you-look-514135482
Included here is a handful of our favorite shots, but you’ll find a lot more on the USGS BIML’s photostream.
All images and captions by Sam Droege via USGS.
Japanese Burrowing Cricket, Beltsville, MD, July 2012
Anthophora bomboides, male, May 2012, Allegany County, Maryland
Hoplisoides xerophilus, Cuba, GTMO Naval Base, 2012
Chrysochus auratus, dogbane beetle, Beltsville, Maryland, 2012
Eugloss dilemma, male, Florida, Biscayne National Monument, 2012
Unknown Wasp, Yellowstone National Park, 2012
Clerid Beetle, Enoclerus ichneumoneus, Prince George’s County, Maryland, 2012
Leafhopper, Sharpshooter Collected in November 2012 Dominican Republic at high elevations in central highlands (yes, those are real colors)
Lace bug of unknown species, Beltsville, Maryland, 2013
Collops bipunctatus, taken from flowers in Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Unknown large weevil from Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic, 2013
Leptochilus acolhuus, Key Biscayne National Park, Florida
Fly, Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming
Huge hat tip to Joe Hanson for bringing this photo collection to our attention!
