Red-shanked Grasshopper Xanthippus corallipes ventral view of hind foot claw
f2.8, EA 16.8, 5X,  ISO 160, 1-6sec, 19um at 228 steps

Sonoran bumble bee or
Bombus sonoruss

This fly was collect by Jonathan and Andrew my grandsons. Thus missing a few legs and an antennae

This clearly shows the halteres that look like small clubs. These oscillate rapidly opposite of the wings and operate like vibrating structure gyroscopes to counterbalance the wings.

This fly was collect by Jonathan and Andrew my grandsons. Thus missing a few legs and an antennae

f4, 3.5x, 32 shots, 64 micron step length

Leather like back f2.8, 5x, 19micron step length, 29 shots

Ventral side showing the mouth parts, genital slit, anus and spiracle plates. f5.6, 24 steps at 58µm, 100 ISO  1.6 sec

Soft Tick lateral side showing sutural line.
f5.6, 4X, 54 steps at 58µm, 100 ISO,  .6 sec

In nature, a sutural line, or simply a suture, is a fairly rigid joint between two or more hard elements of an organism, with or without significant overlap of the elements1. Sutures are found in the skeletons or exoskeletons of a wide range of animals, in both invertebrates and vertebrates1. Here are some examples:

1. Vertebrate Skeletons: The skeletons of vertebrate animals are made of bone, in which the main rigid ingredient is calcium phosphate. The skulls of most vertebrates consist of sets of bony plates held together by cranial sutures1.

2. Invertebrate Exoskeletons: In cephalopod mollusks which have external shells (e.g., Nautilus, ammonites), the shell is divided into compartments by septa (partitions). The septa are joined to the external shell by sutures formed by repeated invagination. The sutures are visible from the outside and often form complex and elaborate patterns1.

3. Gastropod Shells: Nearly all snail shells can be visualized as a tube of increasing diameter, closed at the small end, and spirally wrapped around a central axis. Where the whorls overlap, there is usually a clear indentation. This indentation forms a visible line, which is continuous and reaches from the apex of the shell to the aperture; this line is the suture1.

In summary, sutural lines are found in various forms in nature, particularly in the anatomy of various animals, and they play crucial roles in the structure and function of these organisms.

Saddlebag dragon fly

Milkweed Bug

If you ever see half circles cut out of your rose bush, this is the guy that did it.

Green Tree Hopper

Target like mask on upper part of the face. This specimen is over 10 years old. 98 shots 

This specimen is over 10 years old. 158 shots 

Aphid cornicles are abdominal appendages that secrete an array of volatile and nonvolatile compounds with diverse ecological functions. The emission of alarm pheromones yields altruistic benefits for clone-mates in the aphid colony, which is essentially a superorganism with a collective fate. Secreted droplets also contain unsaturated triglycerides, fast-drying adhesives that can be lethal when smeared on natural enemies but more often impede their foraging efficiency. The longest cornicles have evolved in aphids that feed in exposed locations and are likely used to scent-mark colony intruders. 

Apiomerus flavivenris
Bee Assassin

Trupanea sp. possibly arizonensis
Fruit fly

My daughter Kelli called me one morning and actually caught this in a cup on the side of her family room wall. When I got it, it was all bright green. As time progressed the color changed to a yellow. I am finding that many grasshoppers, crickets just don't pin out well if you wait too long. After a few days the legs start to rot and get mushy 

373 shots, he was a big boy

Unknown species spider web
in the Warwick, UK winter

This is one of the first macro shots I took and learned a lot from the process. I was  disappointed with the grey abdomen color because it actually was a light blue color. I discovered that the lights I bought were yellow colored. I did some research about color temperatures and Kelvins and switched to white lights afterwards.

I should have toned down the background a bit as the sparkles tend to make the image too busy and distract from the wings.

One of my first shots on a complete white background. Its not that easy to get pure white.

Collected in the tall grasses in a citrus grove. Because of the eye arraignment, it may be a crab spider the genus Thomisidae

43 stacked images
Lowa lens at 5X magnification
Using light box with four lights.
I like the water sparkles on the hair

Possibly Notozulia entreriana or spittlebug nymph in
Rosmarinus officinalis or Tuscan Blue Rosemary plant

72 shots

190 shots

Sitting on a Lantana camara plant. Adults feed on the juices of soft plant tissues. Sometimes they form large groups on parts of plants. From the Order Hemiptera or True Bugs. 

Sitting on a Lantana camara plant. Adults feed on the juices of soft plant tissues. Sometimes they form large groups on parts of plants. From the Order Hemiptera or True Bugs. 

181 shots 5X  f2.8 on Ficus leaf, lateral view

Top view. Note White Fly stuck on egg clutch. 

Used Tomlov digital microscope

Stuck on a leaf from an Ficus tree. Single shot, 1.5X, f6.3 

The most widely used building material is mud made of a mixture of soil and regurgitated water, but many species use chewed plant material, instead.

The name "potter wasp" derives from the shape of the mud nests built by species of Eumenes and similar genera. It is believed that Native Americans based their pottery designs upon the form of local potter wasp nests.[2]

When a cell is completed, the adult wasp usually collects beetle larvae, spiders, or caterpillars and, paralyzing them, places them in the cell to serve as food for a single wasp larva. 

As a normal rule, the adult wasp lays a single egg in the empty cell before provisioning it. Some species lay the egg in the opening of the cell, suspended from a thread of dried fluid. When the wasp larva hatches, it drops and starts to feed upon the supplied prey for a few weeks before pupating. The complete lifecycle may last from a few weeks to more than a year from the egg until the adult emerges. Adults are black or brown, and usually marked with contrasting patterns of yellow, white, orange, red or combinations of colors. Adult potter wasps feed on floral nectar.

Potters Wasp nest f8 1_8 sec 1_4X ISO100 330u at 28 steps Eumenes is the type genus of the subfamily Eumeninae of Vespidae

Stuck on a leaf from an Ficus tree.

The most widely used building material is mud made of a mixture of soil and regurgitated water, but many species use chewed plant material, instead.

The name "potter wasp" derives from the shape of the mud nests built by species of Eumenes and similar genera. It is believed that Native Americans based their pottery designs upon the form of local potter wasp nests.[2]

When a cell is completed, the adult wasp usually collects beetle larvae, spiders, or caterpillars and, paralyzing them, places them in the cell to serve as food for a single wasp larva. 

As a normal rule, the adult wasp lays a single egg in the empty cell before provisioning it. Some species lay the egg in the opening of the cell, suspended from a thread of dried fluid. When the wasp larva hatches, it drops and starts to feed upon the supplied prey for a few weeks before pupating. The complete lifecycle may last from a few weeks to more than a year from the egg until the adult emerges. Adults are black or brown, and usually marked with contrasting patterns of yellow, white, orange, red or combinations of colors. Adult potter wasps feed on floral nectar.

f16, 100 ISO, 5 sec, 5X

f8, 1 sec., 100 ISO, 5X, 84 µm step, 22 shots

 Found on the same tree as the Potter Wasp nest. P. citri is a major pest for citrus trees and has developed resistance to some insecticides. Natural control of P. citri is usually dependent on natural enemies whose numbers are affected by the same insecticides used on P. citri.

Predator's include a number of parasitoid wasps that attack the nymphs, including Leptomastidea abnormis, Leptomastix dactylopii, Chrysoplatycerus splendens, and Anagyrus pseudococci. Predators include the brown lacewing Sympherobius barberi, the green lacewing Chrysopa lateralis, hoverfly larvae, and the scale-feeding snout-moth larva.[1] The mealybug destroyer (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri), a ladybird beetle, readily attacks the citrus mealybug.[2]

Note the acoustic tympanum, a groove or flat patch on each front leg that works similar to human ear drums. This enables them to hear sounds .

f5.6, 1/20s, Eff. App. 16.8, ISO 100, 2x, 115microns at 115 step 

Robber Fly or Efferia aestuans

f4.0, 4x, 1/8s, ISO100, 54 steps at 54µ/step

This was taken early morning and was sheltered deep behind the long sharp spines of the Argentine Saguaro cactus in our front yard.