Dineutes sublineatus - whirligig beetle
Arizona, USA
Whirligigs are masters of the thin interface between air and water, predating on animals caught in the surface tension.  In the field it can be hard to appreciate the finely sculptured details of their bodies, the erratic movements that give them their name also make them hard to observe and to catch.
photo details: Canon 100mm f2.8Â macro lens on a Canon 20D
f/18, 1/250 sec, ISO 100
Beetles in a 5-gallon aquarium with a colored posterboard for backdrop.
Off-camera flash bounced off white paper.
Levels adjusted in Photoshop.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
Whirligig beetles inhabit the interface between air and water. The series below depicts Dineutes sublineatus, a large species common in the mountain streams of Arizona.
Whirligigs are named for their habit of swimming in frenetic loops along the water's surface, a behavior that makes them…
Scaphinotus petersi - Snail-Eating Ground Beetle
Arizona
Ground beetles- the family Carabidae- are a spectacular evolutionary radiation of terrestrial predators. The elegant, flightless beetles of the genus Scaphinotus prefer snails and slugs.
photo details. TOP PHOTO. Canon 100mm f2.8 macro…
Lutrochus arizonicus - Travertine Beetle
Arizona, USA
Here's an odd sort of beetle of whose existence I was entirely ignorant until a few showed up in our lab. My primary research these days is with the Beetle Tree of Life group, and the travertine beetle is just one of many Coleopteran wonders I…
Epicauta pardalis - spotted blister beetle
Tucson, Arizona
Here's a beetle so toxic it can kill a horse. The horse doesn't even need to ingest the beetle, it just needs to ingest something that the beetle bled on. Blister beetles produce the defensive compound cantharadin- the active…