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The Mutant Art of Radioactive Insects

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Science illustrator Cornelia Hesse-Honegger records mutations of insects found near radioactive disasters, including Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Her watercolors offer a rarely-seen view on the long-lasting effects of radioactive contamination on living beings.

[Cornelia Hesse-Honegger via Neatorama]

Tree bug from Parvin Road near Hanford WA, USA

The right feeler lacks a section

Harlequin bug near Three Mile Island, USA

The Scutellum is curved and its yellow ornament is asymmetrical.

Soft Bug larva from Posonby, Sellafield, UK

Both of the left wing tips are damaged.

Tree bug, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland

Right tip of the neck plate is flattened

Housefly mutant ‘aristapedia’

Parts of legs are growing out of the feelers and the eyes are yellow

Squash bug from Rohr, Canton Aargau, Switzerland.

Left cover wing is a short stump.

Soft bug from Pripjat, Ukraine

Right side middle leg is short with no foot but two claws

Damsel bugs Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland

Wings of uneven length and disturbed neck plate

Scentless plant bug from Würenlingen, Canton Aargau, Switzerland

Left cover wing is blown up like a balloon

Tree bug from Slavoutich, Ukraine

Right feeler is disturbed.

Drosophila melanogaster

The left wing is a little clump

Ladybird beetle near Three Mile Island, USA

Dent and a black growth on wings.

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