🇬🇧Common darter, Sympetrum striolatum. Wing tip of the forewing of a common darter including an inverted version. A true work of art and unique like a fingerprint 🇩🇪Große Heidelibelle, Sympetrum striolatum. Flügelspitze des Vorderflügels einer Heidelibelle inkl. invertierter

🇬🇧Tachinid fly, Phasia hemiptera. This beautiful fly is a real eye-catcher. With its shimmering wings and striking body, it looks almost like a miniature work of art. But behind its elegant appearance lies a fascinating way of life: The eggs are laid on large stink bugs of the

🇬🇧Musk beetle, Aromia moschata. Have you ever seen the fascinating claws of the musk beetle (Aromia moschata)? This iridescent beetle species not only impresses with its metallic green-bluish colouring, but also with its claws! With the sharp and strong claws on its legs, the

🇩🇪Great green bush-cricket (Tettigonia viridissima) Did you know that this large grasshopper species can grow up to 7 cm long? (including ovipositor) Despite their size, they are masters of camouflage! Thanks to their grass-green coloring, they blend in perfectly with the

🇬🇧The angle shades, Phlogophora meticulosa, Noctuidae. Portraits of insects are particularly fun for me all the time. The variety of scales and their alignment with each other are incredibly exciting at the head of the butterflies. 🇩🇪Achateule, Phlogophora meticulosa, Noctuidae.

🇬🇧Longhorn beetle, Cerambyx scopolii. A longhorn beetle with long antennae. Here you can see the first antenna joint. 🇩🇪Kleiner Eichenbock, Cerambyx scopolii. Ein Bockkäfer mit langen Fühlern. Hier seht ihr das erste Fühlergelenk. #cerambyxscopolii #kleinereichenbock #longhorn

Photographer Thorben Danke Thorben Danke puts in a ton of work to take jaw-dropping portraits of insects. I interviewed him about his process, and called up a couple of entomologists to hear about the value of his work. smithsonianmag.com/science-nature…

Thanks to Smithsonian Magazine for this beautiful article. smithsonianmag.com/science-nature…

🇬🇧The four mega-diverse insect orders: Lepidoptera (butterflies), Hymenoptera, Coleoptera (beetles) and Diptera (flies) Just four of the 30 insect orders make up 87% of the approximately 1 million described species. And all four have one thing in common: holometabolous

🇬🇧Green shield bug, Palomena prasina. I have already shown you a detailed shot, here is the complete picture in 10:1 scale. 🇩🇪Grüne Stinkwanze, Palomena prasina. Eine Detailaufnahme habe ich euch bereits gezeigt, hier das komplette Bild im Maßstab 10:1. ⚙️Equipment: @sonyalpha

🇬🇧Ground beetle, Carabus auronitens. In the first picture you can see the strong mandibles (mouth parts) of this iridescent beetle. Many insects have a protective layer on their mouth parts to reduce wear. Similar to the tooth enamel in humans. Traces of deposited zinc and iron

🇬🇧Leopard moth (Zeuzera pyrina) A special butterfly with exciting blue scales, which I will take a closer look at. The caterpillars feed on the wood of various deciduous trees. They have been found on around 150 different deciduous trees. 🇩🇪Blausieb (Zeuzera pyrina) Ein

🇬🇧Portrait of an ant, unfortunately I have no ID. Can you see the fascinating ocelli on the forehead? Their relationship to wasps and bees is clearly visible here, they belong to the same order of Hymenoptera (hymenoptera) 🇩🇪Porträt einer Ameise, leider konnte ich die Art nicht

🇬🇧Eye of a fly (diptera). The compound eye consists of several hundred up to 28,000 (dragonflies) individual eyes, so-called omatidia. In this way, the insect can compose an image of its surroundings from the pixels of its individual eyes. 🇩🇪Auge einer Fliege (Diptera). Das

🇬🇧Flies (Diptera). One of the four mega diverse insect orders. With about 160.000 species a real order of diversity. In Germany, we make a clear distinction, even in popular usage, between Brachycera (🇩🇪Fliegen) and Nematocera (🇩🇪Mücken). Is there a common name for them in

🇬🇧Gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar. The males can be easily distinguished from the females by the feathered antennae. The unpopular caterpillars cause large amounts of damage to oak trees. A healthy tree will sprout again when the caterpillars stop feeding at the end of June.

🇬🇧Burying beetle knee joint, Nicrophorus humator. Since these beetles, as their name suggests, also dig, the knee joint is probably protected from dirt here. This can be seen in a large number of insects at the transition between the individual segments of the head, chest and

🇬🇧Box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis) This year I was able to observe this beautiful butterfly closely. Finally i show you the adult moth. Aren‘t they beautiful?🥰 🇩🇪Buchsbaumzünsler (Cydalima perspectalis) Dieses Jahr konnte ich diesen schönen Falter genau beobachten. Endlich

🇬🇧Masked hunter, Reduvius personatus. The name is because its nymphs camouflage themselves with dust. The adult animal, on the other hand, shines in a deep black. 🇩🇪Staubwanze, Reduvius personatus. Die Nymphe dieser Wanze tarnt sich mit Staub, daher auch ihr Deutscher Name. Das

🇬🇧Orache moth, Trachea atriplicis. Particularly great shapes of the wing scales are found on the edge of the wing. 🇩🇪Meldeneule, Trachea atriplicis. Besonders tolle Formen der Flügelschuppen befinden sich am Flügelrand. #orachemoth #tracheaatriplicis #meldeneule #lepidoptera