The sheer number of beetle present was possibly the most surprising; I saw beetles running on the trunks of tress, on the road, and even, in copious amounts, in the leavings from a small mammal. This did make for many great, though at times frustrating, photographic opportunities.

Further information on Calosoma wilcoxi, C. scrutator, or on all of the species from Virginia.

This mating pair was quite oblivious to my intrusion and went on about their business, or rather, the female went on about feeding and the male, well, went on about his business.

The minute scales are arranged in such fine, detailed patterns which I always find it quite fascinating. But is not just the arrangement of these scales which catch my eye, rather the green color; it is not merely a smooth, consistent color across the scales, but instead glitters, as light reflecting off a rough surface. Though quite familiar with this iridescent, structure-based coloration in tropical butterflies, for whatever reason I had not quite expected to see it in this species.

Below a 100% crop of the image gives a better idea of the magnification achieved; the green color of the scales is also more evident.

After seeing the rough, glittering quality of the green scales I wanted to get a closer look. Using an old microscope, I focused on a single scale, first illuminating it from below and then from above. The difference was quite remarkable; lit from below the scale lost almost all of its vibrant green color, replaced with a mottled, muddy brown instead. But, lit from above, the startling green color reappeared, now glittering more than ever.

First two photos taken with a Canon 7D, FD to EOS adapter, Canon FD Auto bellows, 35mm macro lens, and 580 EX lens. Third image taken with a Canon 7D, homemade microscope adapter, and 580 EX flash; top image using transmitted light, bottom with reflected light.

Photos taken with a Canon 7D , 65mm macro lens, and 580EX flash unit.

And yes, I did just go for the awful pun…

WIPs, Wing Interference Patterns, are colourful patterns reflecting from thin transparent wings in small insects. The purpose of WIPs remains to be discovered but since the colours in the WIPs are the colours insects are most receptive to a signalling function seems very probable (Link)

A good overview of an overlooked facet of many small wasps and flies – and possibly a good taxonomic aid with further research. Go take a look – it’s well worth a read. For more WIP images, see here

Cicindela albissima female with prey, Kanab UT

Agapostemon sp. on flower

Jumping spider on flower

Agapostemon sp. feeding

“You feeling lucky?”

Taken at Three Lakes Nature center on November 21

On the whole, the results of these tests were fairly pleasing – little to no highlights and pretty good color. But this did not hold for insects with iridescent coloration; the images of these species were dull and lacking in much of the natural coloration. Below is a combined series of the better images:

In all I found this method reasonable for only certain insects – ones with much iridescent coloration (particularly tiger beetles) were not well represented by this method.