• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

macro

  1. Paul Iddon

    Jumping spider and a HUGE meal...

    This salticus scenicus jumping spider has gotten a meal that is huge compared to itself! Paul.
  2. Paul Iddon

    Today and tonight's ramblings

    Today and tonight's ramblings yielded the following: a hoverfly larvae which was looking for a place to sleep for a few weeks, a snail and it's trail, and a millipede. Hoverfly larvae: (White lipped) Banded Snail: And the millipede: Paul.
  3. Paul Iddon

    Notch-horned cleg

    We as humans just don't want to get too close to the cleg fly females - them pincers make a nasty mess of your skin! (Haematopota crassicornis and) Haematopota pluvialis are very similar. This is the latter (brown mottled wings). She kept landing on my shirt and I kept flicking her away - and...
  4. Paul Iddon

    Mirid

    Mirid bugs are common wherever there is an abundant food source. Some mirid species prey exclusively on soft-bodied invertebrates, while others also feed on plant sap if they have depleted prey numbers, causing distorted leaf growth and leaving puncture marks in fruits. (Source) These were on a...
  5. Paul Iddon

    8 eyes

    She's a good size! Paul.
  6. Paul Iddon

    Crab Spider

    This is a female philodromus sp. spider on the bird feeder... Paul.
  7. Paul Iddon

    Buff Ermine Moth?

    Found her very late last night, just after midnight! I am assuming a recently emerged Buff Ermine Moth. It was on the fence but as I got close it flew and landed on the apple tree trunk which made it harder to get to. Paul.
  8. Paul Iddon

    Snout Mite

    I don't know how common they are, but I've never photographed one before. I think this is a Snout Mite - Bdellidae in the order of Trombidiformes (of which there are about 11 genera and at least 260 described species in Bdellidae). Believe me, this one was ALWAYS running - I'm astounded I got...
  9. Paul Iddon

    Nature's way

    So what you see here is the remains of an aphid, it's body attached to a podium created by a braconid wasp. This tiny parasitic wasp finds a target host and deposits an egg inside it. This egg will be dormant until the host is big enough for the larva to hatch and then the wasp larva feeds on...
  10. Paul Iddon

    Amongst The smallest things I have photographed...

    You'll hopefully forgive me the lack of detail in this - but it is as small as anything I have ever photographed I reckon... Size is less than half the full stop on your keyboard! Apparently... This is Arachnida ( Acari - Mites ) - Oribatida - .. and at a glance, one of the -> Humerobatidae...
  11. Paul Iddon

    Jumping spider returned

    She appeared again, the zebra jumper - though it may be a different one to the others I've seen this summer... they look very similar to each other, but remain gorgeous! Paul.
  12. Paul Iddon

    The evil that is the weevil

    Pretty much disliked by most gardeners... Paul.
  13. Paul Iddon

    Male salticus scenicus

    Two jumpers on one of my planter today - but this is the male as the other buggered off! Paul.
  14. Paul Iddon

    What lives in the "Cuckoo Spit"?

    We've all seen it on our plants, and the pest that is inside the cuckoo spit is actually a young developing frog-hopper, which sucks the plant sap and distorts the young growth of flowering plants. It creates a protective bubble wrap, that protects the insect from attack by predators and also...
  15. Paul Iddon

    An alien landscape...

    Concrete gate posts have their own textures, and when combined with two alienesque bugs (one of which could have potentially eaten the other) you get a landscape with creatures that could be Venusians on the surface of the planet... Paul.
  16. Paul Iddon

    The ant, the aphid, and a ladybird roaming the apple tree trunk

    I spotted this ant carrying an aphid as I was looking around the garden, and also noticed a ladybird larva scurrying around too (which I added to the end of the post). Paul.
  17. Paul Iddon

    First damselfly this year

    Landed on the poorest leaves on the poorest shrub in the garden, but I was able to get quite close with the Venus lens. Paul.
  18. Paul Iddon

    Spiders last night, and a bug...

    Four from the darkness of the night... A bug which might be Cacosylla, then a female steadota bipunctata with her eggs, a male Philodromus dispar, a Sac Spider (Clubiona) and my resident Nuctenea umbratic, dining, and showing of his spinnerets. Paul.
  19. Paul Iddon

    Miniature Globular Springtail

    It was really small, quite mobile, and I'd knocked the lens to f/5.6 so lost some depth of field... Just checked the markings on my ruler and it was probably only just about 1.5mm at most! It might be a Dicyrtoma fusca but I'm unsure at the moment (maybe someone can confirm or suggest the sub...
  20. Paul Iddon

    Tiny jumper and prey

    This jumping spider herself is only about 4mm long but she has managed to pounce and capture her dinner - and it's as big if not bigger than she is! Paul.
Top