Entomology

Found a colony of these european hornets living inside of a stone wall in Spain. I held my camera by the entrance and took shots as soon as I saw one come out. Ended up with maybe about ~50 blurry images and this nice one.

The photo was cropped and post-processed using Rawtherapee. I increased the local contrast and added some tone mapping and vignetting to make the hornet pop more against the background.

The original JPEG output by the camera is this:

cross-posted from: https://mastodon.neatobuilds.com/users/mrpistachios/statuses/114892213315364470

Dragonflies doing stuff

@photography
#Photography #insects #nature #macro #SonyA7RIII #sony #Laowa #year2025

Macy is our quietest entomologist, but she is passionate about outreach. Last week she was attacked by an Arachnus giganticus. It was a close one, but she pulled through in the end!

Little explorer

@entomology

#insects #ants #macro #photography #year2025 #SonyA7RIII #Laowa

I saw this while in a hike today. Wasp tried to take this beetle home but it wasn't having it.

My wife caught a video of this guy in our yard, I hadn’t seen one before, quite cool!

I'm still not sure of what the ant and plant species are.

At the edge of the world

@entomology
#entomology #neatobuilds #year2025 #insects #macro #Photography #sonya7riii #Laowa #california

cross-posted from: https://mastodon.neatobuilds.com/users/mrpistachios/statuses/114696277155986852

Baby on a flower seen on my lunch walk

@photography
#insect #cricket #NeatoBuilds #year2025 #macro #photography #SonyA7RIII #Laowa #nature #Bloomscrolling #darktable #zerenestacker

cross-posted from: https://mastodon.neatobuilds.com/users/mrpistachios/statuses/114676533117760653

little Wasp bouncing around our grape vine

@photography
#wasp #gilroy #california #year2025 #neatobuilds #SonyA7RIII #laowa #green #nature #macro #photography #darktable #insects

Asian lady beetles doing some stuff

Saw the hordes on a hike they were all along the side of the path

after learning that they weren't lady bugs and are an invasive species I'm not really sure what to think of them.
@entomology

#insects #macrophotography #Photography #neatobuilds #sonya7riii #laowa #ladybeetle #naturephotography #nature

cross-posted from: https://mastodon.neatobuilds.com/users/mrpistachios/statuses/114388239397145973

Little buddy scooting past my work area

@macrophotography
#macro #macrophotography #millipede #neatobuilds #insects

This bird poop caught my attention because it looked a bit too perfectly shaped, and when I looked at it closer its orange osmeteria came out.

Searching online, I suspect that this might be Papilio cresphontes. However, I see a lot of variation in the photos of Papilio cresphontes and so I am not sure if this the correct ID.

Found in Yucatan, Mexico.

Researchers in Mississippi have discovered a previously unknown species of parasitoid wasp that matures inside the bodies of living, adult fruit flies before bursting out of them like a xenomorph in the "Alien" movies.

The sneaky predator, which researchers have named Syntretus perlmani, is the first wasp found to infect adult fruit flies — similar wasp species are known to target flies during their younger, more vulnerable larva and pupa life stages. The wasps are parasitoids rather than parasites because they always kill their hosts, while parasites usually don't.

A team of scientists came across the wasp by chance while collecting a common fruit fly called Drosophila affinis in their backyards in Mississippi. They published their findings Wednesday (Sep. 11) in the journal Nature.

Southeast Texas, help is appreciated.