My Top Twelve Photos of 2012

And it’s that time of year – here are my best or perhaps more aptly – my favorite photos from 2012 (in no particular order).

First, a photograph of the once thought extinct Cicindela floridana – taken while I was conducting research in Florida at the end this August. I was quite surprised when this individual allowed my to approach it and snap a series of shots – the majority of the time I can barely get within a foot of these minute beetles.

Second, this shot of a grey hairstreak (read more here) was possibly my favorite butterfly photo of the year. While the composition is not very notable, it is the colors of the insect itself and the minute details which I find fascinating.

Third, this image of a bright green inchworm hurrying along a tree trunk stuck in my mind, if for no other reason than for the copious numbers of these inchworms which “took over” my college campus this spring.

Fourth, the menacing maw of this longhorn beetle (Orthosoma brunneum) was too neat to leave off this list.

Fifth, the colors and details in this shot of a mantidfly (Zeugomantispa minuta) snagged it a place on this list.

Sixth, and last for now, this photo of a female Xylocopa darwini Cockerell 1926 (OK, just the posterior end) building a nest was one of my favorite (insect) images from my trip to the Galapagos Islands in January of 2012.

I will have another six images posted by the beginning of the week so stay tuned!

And here are the remaining six!

An ant tending a small “herd” of aphids:

An ant grooming:

I found this small spider tucked in a pocket of its web:

This small cerambycid (Molorchus bimaculatus) busily removing pollen from its antenna:

A minute pirate bug peruses a thrips across a dogwood bud.

And last, two captive first instar Cicindela abdominalis: