Robber fly from Belgium with some serious body-mod ...

[AndrewC]

Head and thorax only ... due to a somewhat unfortunate accident involving the body when I was experimenting with different mounts and backgrounds

D200 on linear stage with El-Nikkor reversed at about 150mm extension
71 slices in the stack at 32um a slice
Stacked with ZS PMAX and no stacking touchup
Illumination is two Nikon SR-B200 units at 1/8 power using Nikon supplied close-up diffusers
Background - I've been experimenting with different backgrounds ranging from light absorbing matt black to various coloured sheets. This is actually a print of some MARPAT-WOOD digital camouflage about 8mm behind the fly.

[Eric F]

Andrew,

Very nice robber fly image. Your fly is Neoitamus sp. (need tail end for full identification!). Was your El-Nikkor the 50/2.8?

Eric

[AndrewC]

Thanks Eric, yes the Nikkor 50mm / 2.8 at f5.6

The tail end got well squashed - this fly decided to start buzzing me during a teleconf and got "collected" by a coffee cup which alas pinched it's tail. My ham-fisted mounting added insult to injury and completely removed it.

Thanks for the ID. I'm waiting for an insect ID book but it certainly helps to be pointed in the right direction

Andrew