Lake fly (Chironomidae)
Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 10x NA 0.28, tube lens: Raynox 125mm
Illumination: Oblique and UV fluorescence
Tags: Chironomidae Extreme macro Mosquito Insect Insect eyes Macro Mitutoyo rainbow refraction colors WPD24Animals
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Forficula auricularia (m)
The wings of earwigs are a fantastic invention of nature, more than 200 Mio. years ago. They can fold to 1/10 of the full size, are extremely thin, yet very resistant. The folding mechanism is more sophisticated than any modern man-made (telescopic) umrella construction.
Due to thin film interference, colors are iridiscent and depend on the viewing and lightning angle.
See it flying here: youtu.be/_PNtn6ly9wU?feature=shared
Mitutoyo 5x NA 0.14, tube lens: Raynox 125mm
Illumination: Oblique and polarized backlight
Micro-Pano (3 stacks)
Tags: Common Earwig Forficula auricularia Extreme macro Insect Insect wings Thin film colors Interference colors origami Macro Mitutoyo
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Common earwig wing (Forficula auricularia (m))
Forficula auricularia (m)
The wings of earwigs are a fantastic invention of nature, more than 200 Mio. years ago. They can fold to 1/10 of the full size, are extremely thin, yet very resistant. The folding mechanism is more sophisticated than any modern man-made (telescopic) umrella construction. The whole wing fits neatly below the elytron (see left lower corner), once folded
Here I used perpendicular illumination, so the thickness of the wing corresponds directly to the colors cf.
here, lower diagram
Yellow regions are around 150nm (which is 1/4 of the wavelength of visible (green) light), magenta and blue areas are a bit thicker (180-220nm).
Full earwig can be seen here
Mitutoyo 5x NA 0.14, tube lens: Thorlabs 165mm
Illumination: Oblique
Tags: Common Earwig Forficula auricularia Extreme macro Insect Insect wings Thin film colors Interference colors origami Macro Mitutoyo
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These small wasps are ovipositing in its host, e.g. a caterpillar (ovipositor is clearly seen in this picture). The wasp larvae develop inside the living (and still growing) caterpillar. Typically, in the last larva stadium, it hatches from the host and continues feeding from the outside...
They play an important role in the ecological balance.
There are so so many spezies - for me impossible to track down.
As most wasps, their eyes show an intense blue fluorescence, when
illuminated with some UV light.
Mitutoyo 20x NA 0.42, tube lense: 165mm (Thorlabs)
Illumination: White diffused oblique, and UV (365nm) (UVIVF)
Tags: Macro extreme macro Mitutoyo insect eyes insects Brackwespe Braconidae Parasitoid UVIVF
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The smallest insects on the planet are parasitoid wasps, with sizes below 0.5mm.
The spezies shown here is (relatively) large, about 1.5mm in size.
For even smaller ones, check out my album: Trichogamma
The species shown here is ovipositing in its host, e.g. a caterpillar. The wasp larvae develop inside the living (and still growing) caterpillar. Typically, in the last larva stadium, it hatches from the host and continues feeding from the outside...
They play an important role in the ecological balance.
There are so so many spezies - for me impossible to track down.
Mitutoyo 10x NA 0.28, tube lense: 165mm (Thorlabs)
Illumination: Dark field and oblique
Tags: Macro Mondays Tiny Macro extreme macro Mitutoyo insects Brackwespe Braconidae Parasitoid
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