Last thought...

Pristhesancus plagipennis

Look at this picture and imagine that you are a fly. By the time, you would have finished that thought being that very imaginary fly you'd be doomed, injected with a hormone that liquefies your tissue only to be sucked out by this Bee Killer Assassin Bug.




These predators move smoothly and steadily. They conceal in ambush until they can present their victims with their beautiful red-orange body. It might remind of a beautiful flower and food, look irresistible. The long 'horn' that acts as a syringe and straw might only be noticed when it snaps and punctures its prey.

If you are a human, being a fly might not be your last thought. If you are injected the strong venom of the Bee Killer Assassin Bug, however, you might wish for a few days that you could fly and leave the pain behind you.

Looking at this photo might help you to empathise with a fly or any other insects. You might see what they last saw. Maybe you'll know their last thought - a good one I am quite sure.

Enjoy your meal and keep dreaming!

Coffee sipping bug

Do you drink serveral cups of coffee per day? You might suffer from the 'Coffee sipping bug'.

Please have a look at what might be the first animated document witnessing this bug at work. Admittedly, you will not find any cure for your coffee addiction. You'll be witnessing a bug, obviously enjoying to suck out some coffee sap right from the plant. This is the stuff that you might expect in a David Attenborough documentary or a National Geographic story. They would have professional equipment and obviously quite a bit more experience and talent to make this really tantalisingly irresistible - just like a cup of coffee in the morning.

My friends would say that this movie - similar to my other wildlife activities - is not sexy enough for a wider public. Surely, they are right. But...isn't that a gorgeous bug? Look at it! This guy was so passionate about getting to the good stuff, the coffee sap I assume. I love seeing passion and natural behaviour. I love witnessing and documenting true and unmanipulated life that hardly anyone else knows and has ever seen before. How could I hold this back and keep this footage for myself? Surely, with a few billion people on this Earth someone else will share my fascination and fully enjoy this video.

I doubt that many people could identify this species easily. At least to me this animal is unknown, its segmented body with 6 legs hints at it being an insect or arthropod of some sort. So, I call it a bug but am happy to learn its true identity. The animal is not more than 2 mm long, the size of a pinhead. The body seems to be covered with a shield, probably made from collected material. Some long hairlike thread is constantly probing the environment while the animal is visibly busy sticking something that looks like an antler into the coffee leaf, probing it really well and leaving a visible trace. I love passion and dedication and that's what I can see in this video.

The bug totally ignored the fact that I had pinched off the leaf from the bush and kept flashing my camera at it. The footage was taken in our garden. Some fancy music would probably suit it better than the surrounding noise, some birds and traffic. It was a bit windy too. Some parts of the bug's shield or body are obviously blown around a bit at some stage.




I tried to take pictures with my 100mm macro lens with a 68mm extension tube on a cropped sensor camera. That didn't give me enough details in magnification and I got better quality with my microscope modus on my underwater camera.

Let's be realistic: we can't keep up with large animals, we struggle with small ones, on land but even more under water. Nudibranch documentation has taught me that introducing small animals to the world is a challenge, even when they are the most beautiful and story telling animals. When they are smaller than 2mm, it is almost hopeless to have the right equipment ready in the right situation that allow to document properly and to get an audience that is able to connect with it.

My addiction is not coffee, but macro photography and wildlife documentation. Let me know if you share my enthusiasm and let me know if you like this footage (if not the bug). By sharing this story and video with your friends you might contribute to get the word out there, namely that: 'coffee sipping' is addictive, even among some bugs.

Male Mosquito

• Photo Discussion Friday

Male Mosquito
PDF Week 15/2016: Canon 7D, 100mm, 1/250, f25, ISO 100, external flash.

Ever since the outbreak of the ZIKA virus, mosquitos stand on my list to photograph. It is a challenge. They are not exactly rare animals around here. But how do you take photographs?

Quite obviously they are small and fine creatures. Macro photography is difficult at the best of times. My only model that would put health and safetly on the stand for my photography is actually myself.
Mosquitos like me but they don't care about my ambition. They willingly accepted my blood donation on my first try, leaving behind a nasty itch but not even trace of a usable frame. Surely, my body distortions trying to make arms and hands meet were funny to watch; holding still to bribe the sample with my blood, aiming a flash and my camera at short distance. It simply did not work.

Shall I really move to the dark side and cheat with my photography? Should I put some of my blood into a container? Shall I put the animal in the fridge for a while (what an odd thought)? And would that guarantee a good photo? I decided that it is simply not worth it.

Exhausted from this week's nature outing odyssee, ready for a well-deserved shower, food and re-hydration, I spotted a mosquito on our kitchen window curtain. The beautiful animal seemed to wait for a meal - a bit similar to me. Was that my opportunity?




While I got my camera and flash it didn't move. For quite some time, I assumed that it was actually dead and dried out. I don't know much about mosquito physiology. But the front legs tilted up simply look wrong to me. It held still for quite a while and only later flew off.

Did you know that male mosquitos don't bite but feed on pollen and nectar. Blood is only sucked by females who need it to breed their eggs. As you can see in the picture the antennae are lined with fine hairs, called antennal flagellum. It allows the males to hear the finest sounds - the lovely mosquito buzzing we all enjoy - extremely well.

With this photo, I would love to get people thinking about eradication programs. In times of Zika and other mosquito born diseases we often forget about the important functions such creatures have, next to being annoying and dangerous to our health. Lots of birds and other animal feed on them directly or indirectly.

Apart from that, I hope you enjoy a mosquito bite free weekend!

Praying Mantis - Orthodoera ministralis

• Photo Discussion Friday

Blue Eye Praying

PDF Week 14/2016: Canon 7D, 100mm, 1/250, f32, ISO 100, external flash.

So exciting to have a Praying mantis back in our basil garden. It is a different species to the resident individual from last year. They are highly welcome since we have lots of Grass hoppers and all sorts of other insects who enjoy and devour most of our garden plants.

This Praying Mantis was found close to a beautiful Assassin Bee Eater. Would they stalk each other? Both of them are exquisite hunters quite high in the food chain. Assassin Bee Eaters jump their prey and suck it out injecting a digestive venom that can hurt humans quite badly.

Suddenly, I noticed a large grasshopper in the equation. Despite having a perfect angle I put my camera away, trying to watch the spectacle without interfering. It was not going to be a love triangle for sure. But who would end up having or being a meal?

The Grasshopper jumped within 3cm (an inch) of the Praying Mantis. The mantis stared for an eternity and finally launched a half hearted attack on the Grasshopper. It missed. All the animals went their unharmed ways for now.


Picture: Bee Killer Assassin-Bug

The Praying Mantis seemed to pose for me a bit later. For  a few seconds it even opened up and moved its front legs away from its body. To my surprise, a blue spot became visible on the inside of those spring loaded, sharp catching tools. Those blue 'eyes' must be the last thing, prey will look at before being killed and eaten.

The Praying Mantis looks like Orthodoera novaezealandiae but since the photo was taken in Brisbane, I assume it is relatively safe to say that the blue eyes identify it as Orthodoera ministralis.

Photographing animals that rely on camouflage and blend into their background is always quite tricky. When the animal opened its front legs, the yellow thighs and the blue spots simply took me by surprise. They complement the green background and getting the (real) eye contact is an added bonus.

Being aware that we already had a Praying Mantis in Photo Discussion Friday this year...I simply can hardly get enough of them. 

Enjoy!

P.S. The original of this article can be found at http://www.goodpicturesonline.com/Blog/PhotoDiscussionFriday/2016-Week-14