Full Frontal dragonfly

I went back to the shots of the world’s best dragonfly this morning, thinking I might cull a few more. This one caught my eye second or third time round and it has had very little processing. On reflection, I quite like this.

Trithemis aurora frontal view

Then I looked again at Monday’s shots. I processed two but one I subsequently decided not to post as the critical focus was fractionally out. This was the only other one I preserved.

Ceratina cognata

This is a small carpenter bee, identified from that old stalwart, Insecta Hongkongica. I’d like the left antenna a little sharper but that will have to be for another shoot. I think it still just about passes muster.

If it stops raining this afternoon I am going out again to see if I can find the multi-coloured grasshoppers as I am still without an ID. Wish me luck 🙂

 

 

Meet Ano

Well here’s Ano in full frontal glory :-0   Anoplophora chinensis that is. So you can see all the glorious details I have lightened the face somewhat. And what a face.

Ano is of course a Long-horned beetle but the antennae are either not fully developed or have been damaged. As they appear to be equal length my guess is the former.

Anoplophora chinensis

Here’s more of Ano.

Ano’s vernacular name is Citrus Longhorn. Although these beetles look good and are fun to photograph, they can be destructive. This one bores into citrus trees and can kill them.

I managed two ok dragonfly shots today but nothing to write home about. The first is the female Pied skimmer, or Pseudothemis zonata. The males zip around all over the place, inspecting all comers and patrolling with great vigour. This lady seemed a very weak flyer – maybe just woken up or possibly freshly emerged. There was a dragonfly exuvia at the side of the pond but I am not able to match this to the imago. Instead of a pure white band she has a yellow (split) one.

Pseudothemis zonata – female

And here is another full frontal shot! Our old friend Trithemis festiva, the Indigo dropwing was unusually co-operative as long as I didn’t get too close.

Indigo dropwing – Trithemis festiva

Finally a couple from the roadside. Above, the Grass Demon and then below a wasps’ nest I assume, although I don’t yet know the species. (Now identified as Parapolybia nodosa.)

Udaspes folus

That was as close as I dared venture, not knowing what I was dealing with and having only my 180mm lens on the camera. They didn’t seem at all aggressive but I wasn’t in the mood to be stung. The stock market has already stung me enough for one week 😦