Uploads from Matthias Lenke, tagged makro

22-spot ladybird / Zweiundzwanzigpunkt-Marienkäfer / Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 08:35:08 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

Overwintering adult, 4 mm in size.

Rove beetle / Kurzflügler / Staphylinidae

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 04:58:31 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

Rove beetle (Philonthus cognathus) in typical threat display; circa 10 mm in size.

Gall wasp / Eichenschwammgallwespe / Biorhiza pallida

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 06:01:00 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

Agamic female Biorhiza pallida, about 4 mm in size.

Antlion / Ameisenlöwe / Myrmeleontidae

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 03:19:49 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

May I introduce one of my 4 antlion-„pets“. Found these guys last summer under a rock ledge. At that time they were really tiny, about 3 mm in size. The shown antlion is now 10 mm in size and should be in his last larval stage. I keep them in a plastic container filled with fine sand and occasionally I sacrifice a few woodlice or ants … they are chanceless, the hunting strategy of antlions is pretty effective.

Jumping plant louse / Blattfloh / Psylloidea

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:13:34 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

... not too sure about the ID. Found this little creature (length about 2,5–3 mm) in late december sitting on an branch ... despite the cold very lively.

Snow fly / Schneefliege / Chionea sp.

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 08:06:02 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

I found this insect (body length about 3 mm) under rotting leaves few days ago. At first I thought it would be a strange-looking spider, because it went like a spider. At home I took a closer look and I was surprised by the head-shape and the halteres. After some research on the internet I would identify this creature as a female Chionea sp., commonly called snow flies.

Some facts: Adults occur during winter, where they can be observed walking over snow. They produce glycerol in their hemolymph, preventing them from freezing. The winglessness of the genus is probably attributable to the fact that at sub-freezing temperatures, it is very hard to generate enough energy for maintaining flight muscles. Also, the space normally taken by flight muscles is used to store eggs. However, the halteres have not been reduced and are innervated, thus probably serving as sensory organs.

All images are single shots taken with the MP-E and twin flash MT-24.

Woodlouse spider / Asseljäger / Dysdera crocata

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 03:46:34 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

152 exposures taken at 5,6x magnification on full frame sensor (Schneider Componon-S 35mm/4.0 reversed, 2 flash + 2 led, paper cylinder diffuser, ISO 125, stacked with Zerene Stacker, mix of DMap & PMax).

For those interested:
Woodlouse spiders (Dysdera crocata) are usually to be found under logs in warm places, often close to woodlice. They spend the day in a silken retreat and hunt at night without the use of a web. Their diet consists exclusively of woodlice which – despite their tough exoskeleton – are pierced easily by the spider’s large chelicerae.
The courtship of these spiders is typically aggressive and mates risk injury from each other’s large chelicerae.
They have been known to bite humans if handled. Their bite can be painful but the venom causes no major medical problems. Localised itchiness at the bite site has been reported in some cases.
(source: wikipedia)

Honeybee / Honigbiene / Apis mellifera

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 03:10:20 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

Before I took these pictures, I did not know what a long tongue honeybees have …

Mosquito / Stechmücke / Culicidae

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 05:25:04 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

Female mosquito at 6,6x magnification; 224 shots stacked in Zerene Stacker. Unfortunately a lot of artifacts in the dark background …

Leaf beetle / Hallescher Blattkäfer / Chrysomelidae

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 03:31:56 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

Portrait of a leaf beetle (Sermylassa halensis, size: 6 mm) at 10x magnification. 282 exposures taken with Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 10x, stacked by Zerene Stacker. This species is quite easy to identify because of it’s coloring.

Straight-snouted weevil / Spitzmausrüssler / Apionidae

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 03:23:15 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

Straight-snouted weevil Oxystoma ochropus at 3,7x magnification on full frame sensor. 178 exposures taken with Schneider Componon-S 35mm/4.0 reversed at f5.0, 2 flash, paper cylinder diffuser, ISO 100, stacked with Zerene Stacker, mix of DMap- & PMax-method.

After John’s and Nicolas’ previous posts this is not a particularly original presentation for sure. But I’ve placed this specimen on a match just in order to give a sense of scale.

Straight-snouted weevil / Spitzmausrüssler / Apionidae

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 03:03:26 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

Straight-snouted weevil Oxystoma ochropus at 8,7x magnification on full frame sensor. 224 exposures taken with EOS 5D, Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 10x, ISO 100, 2 flashlight, paper cylinder diffuser, stacked with Zerene Stacker (mix of DMap & PMax method).

The feet seems to be a "combination". They enable the weevil to walk both on smooth and rough surfaces.

Ground beetle / Buntfarbener Putzläufer / Anchomenus dorsalis

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 02:54:35 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

This nice-looking beetle is quite common and widespread. I have searched in vain for an english name. But I found a rather interesting article about this species ("Predators select their prey in order to eat a nutritionally balanced diet …")

11x magnification on full-frame sensor. 295 exposures taken with EOS 5D, Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 10x, ISO 125, 2 flashlight, paper cylinder diffuser, stacked with Zerene Stacker (mix of DMap & PMax method).

Plum fruit moth / Pflaumenwickler / Grapholita funebrana

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:26:10 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

If you want to eat a plum and you have to realize that it is already occupied by a small „maggot“, it is most likely the caterpillar of a plum fruit moth (Grapholita funebrana). Sometimes called a red plum maggot.

Both images at 3,6x magnification.

German wasp / Deutsche Wespe / Vespula germanica

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 02:36:31 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

In these autumn days wasp colony workers usually leaving the nest to die, as does the foundress queen. The only survivors are the young fertilized queens, who are now looking for protected places to overwinter. So it is not difficult to get dead wasps for a „photo session“.

Frontal view above at 3,3x magnification on full frame sensor. 136 exposures taken with Schneider Componon-S 35mm/4.0 reversed at f5.0, 2 flash, paper cylinder diffuser, ISO 100, stacked with Zerene Stacker, mix of DMap- & PMax-method.

Ground beetle / Eilkäfer / Notiophilus sp.

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 03:41:59 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

This very common ground beetle (size 4,5 mm) is just another example for easily overlooked insects because of their littleness. They can be seen in the daytime running quickly across the soil. So in german they are called (in free translation) „rush beetles“. There seems to be no english name?

12x magnification on full-frame sensor. 133 exposures taken with EOS 5D, Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 10x, ISO 100, 2 flashlight, paper cylinder diffuser, stacked with Zerene Stacker (mix of DMap & PMax method).

Common Blue / Hauhechel-Bläuling / Polyommatus icarus

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 02:13:33 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

Portrait of a Common blue (Polyommatus icarus) at 6,7x magnification. 175 shots taken with Schneider Componon-S 35mm/4.0 reversed, stacked by Zerene Stacker. Not so easy to handle the contrast between the bright scales and "feathers" and the dark eye …

Common horse fly / Regenbremse / Haematopota pluvialis

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 03:21:13 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

Female horsefly Haematopota pluvialis.

As far as I know the meaning of the colorful striped compound eyes is still not completely understood. But there are assumptions that these patterns are interference filters to perform a contrast filtering function for vision.

Ground beetle / Kleiner Uferläufer / Elaphrus riparius

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 03:56:04 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

Elaphrus riparius (size: 7mm); found on the bank of a reservoir; at 8,5x magnification; 214 shots stacked in Zerene Stacker.

Cosmet moth / Prachtfalter / Cosmopterigidae

nobody@flickr.com (Matthias Lenke) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 02:30:55 -0800

Matthias Lenke posted a photo:

This small moth (Pancalia leuwenhoekella), length (not wingspan) 5 mm, belongs to the family of Cosmopterigidae. The larvae feed on Viola species. They initially mine the leaf stem of their host plant. In this stage, frass is ejected out of the mine through a hole. Later, the larvae feed on the bast fibre of the subterranean parts of the plant from within a silken tunnel. Pupation takes place in a cocoon made of silk and covered with sand. Adults are on wing from April to June. (source: wikipedia)

In my eyes, this is only one of many undervalued species in comparison to other popular insects like ants, jumping spiders, flies, wasps etc. …

At 12x magnification on full-frame sensor. 274 exposures taken with EOS 5D, Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 10x, ISO 100, 2 flashlight, paper cylinder diffuser, stacked with Zerene Stacker (mix of DMap & PMax method)