Backswimmer
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.
Dytiscus diving beetle larva
Ive posted photos the larva of a lesser water beetle and the great silver water beetle recently, but the most ferocious of them all are the larvae of the great diving beetle species or Dytiscus larvae. If you mange to get one of these in your pond dipping tray, you will soon end up with…
Great silver water beetle larva feeding on wandering pond snail
Following form my last post, here are the photos from that feeding great silver water beetle. You can really see those asymmetrical mandibles in this close up. Which they use to eat the snail. It would occasionally uncurl to get some air from the surface. Before recurling around its wandering pond snail prey. In this…
Great silver water beetle larva feeding on pond snail video
Here is a video I made of a great silver water beetle larva (Hydrophilus piceus) feeding on a wandering pond snail (Radix labiata). It has an interesting method of feeding where, after grabbing the snail in its unsymmetrical mouthparts, it then curls its body around it to get a better hold as is devours it!…
Lesser diving beetle larva Acilius eating Backswimmer Notonecta nymph
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…
Scarce emerald damselfly nymph Lestes dryas
Last week a realised that the emerald damselflies would soon be emerging and there would not be nymphs around for much longer. This because despite hatching in March/April, they only take a matter of weeks to grow and emerge as adults, so the time available to photograph them is not very long. I managed to…
Cloen dipterum Mayfly nymph, Agraylea multipunctata Micro caddisfly larva and wandering snail
The last from the productive pond dip photography session. I got my best over of a few more species: Cloen dipterum Mayfly nymph. Agraylea multipunctata Micro caddisfly larva And wandering pond snail.
Hawker dragonfly nymph close up with water boatman and water louse
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…
Hawker Dragonfly Nymph
A few more from the pond dipping session. Some photos of a hawker dragonfly nymph. Here is a close up of the head. And probably my favourite shot.
Ilybius sp diving beetle
back in June I found some smaller diving beetles that were very dark in colour. I guessed they were no Dytiscus and with a bit of research settled on Ilybius sp. I got some different angles, including this one of the air bubble at teh tip of the abdomen. And my favourite one was this…