Lacewing larva, not scale insect

[lauriek]

From above



From below



And a bit closer (Pointy)



First two with OM38/2.8 and last with Nikon 10x/0.30 CFN. Stacks of 37, 40 and 84 composited with Zerene PMAX

As usual, any confirmation/help with ID appreciated..

[Cactusdave]

Very nice images. The insect appears to have covered itself with plant hairs probably from the underside of the leaves of the plants it lives on. What plant did you find it on? These plant hairs usually interact strongly with polarised light. It would be interesting to look at this beast with incident polarised light +/- retarders.

[NikonUser]

I don't recall scale insects having such large mandibles, they (scales) are Hemiptera. These large mandibles remind me of a Lacewing larva, Neuroptera unless they have been re-classified.

[lauriek]

I'm an idiot!

I didn't know lacewing larva did the 'cover themselves in debris' thing.

And you know when I was post processing these I was thinking, those mandibles remind me of something.

Thanks guys!

Dave, I'm afraid I don't have that kind of equipment, might have a polarising lens around somewhere for a regular lens, but I don't even know what a retarder is (something microsopey I suspect?)

[Cyclops]

I'm an idiot!

I didn't know lacewing larva did the 'cover themselves in debris' thing.

And you know when I was post processing these I was thinking, those mandibles remind me of something.

Thanks guys!

Dave, I'm afraid I don't have that kind of equipment, might have a polarising lens around somewhere for a regular lens, but I don't even know what a retarder is (something microsopey I suspect?)

Youll need two polarizers, crossed,to get the interference effects. Unfortunately theyre not cheap! I have no idea what a retarder is-I thought that was a backwards worn baseball cap

[lauriek]

I've seen a cross polarizing system for the old Olympus ringflash (from the OM days) but I doubt that would fit on the modern ringflash, and they are still quite pricey so I'm not prepared to buy one on the off chance I can rig it up.

Maybe I could do something with some of that 'cut to shape' polarizing material you can buy on the twin flash heads, I've been meaning to get hold of some of that for a while..

[mant01]

Just amazing images, Ive looked through a lot of your posts lauriek and each time Im just blown away by your images.

[Cyclops]

One way, which Ive used in the past, is to use two photographic polarizers, one over the light source, another on top of the eyepiece. But it depends on your workflow and camera attachment method.

[lauriek]

Incidentally to answer an earlier question I found this on a Tetrapanax rex we have in the garden..

[Cactusdave]

Tetrapanax certainly has hairs on the underside of the leaves and on the new growth so it is possible that's how the larva acquired its crowning glory of stellate hairs.

A retarder is sometimes also called a wave plate. It works by causing a phase shift in the perpendicularly polarised components of the light wave. Placed between the polariser and analyser in a polarisation setup, it produces variable colours depending on the degree of shift. It is possible to buy several types of commercial retarders or wave plates, but I have found that a variety of plastic or cellophane films give good results. The film wrapper around CDs and the wrapper on greetings cards can be particularly good. A double layer of Sellotape also works well. Rotating the retarder changes the colours.

I have used polarised incident light on a Leitz Ortholux fitted with the Orthopak incident illuminator with and without plastic film retarders with good results on fish scales. Polarising kits for incident polarisation are also available for stereo microscopes.