A few more pond creature aquarium photography shots. First up this small (1cm) Crawling water beetle (Hydrophilidae) larva. The nymph of a backswimmer. A pond skater nymph And a close up of a scarce emerald damselfly (Lestes dryas) nymph.
Here’s a slightly different pond creature shot, with a white background. The backswimmer is also a bit different as its Notonecta maculata, rather than the usual N. glauca.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the strange looking larva of the lesser diving beetle Acilius sp. (probably sulcatus) swimming around in a pond. I quick went and got a net and caught one, before taking it inside to photography in my aquarium set up. It is a fairly distinctive larvae with its…
Carrying on from my last post, the pond photography session gave me my best ever hawker dragonfly nymph. I got it from various angles, including these two in which you can really see that mask or labium they use to catch prey, under slung below the head. I also got a top down shot. I…
A few more recent pond photos today, taken in January. This particular dip turned up the first Pygmy Backswimmers in Wat Tyler Country Park, at least that I have seen. These small 3mm bugs, also known at ‘plea bugs’ (Pleidae), have only one species in the UK Plea minutissima, referred to as Plea leachi in…
More from my pond photography back in February. This time the backswimmer or greater water boatman photos. These insects are one of the true bugs (heteroptera) a group of insects characterised by their mouthparts which have fused into a proboscis. You can see it clearly in this photo. I also got a couple of new…