Aedes punctor

AndrewC · Post by **AndrewC** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 4:41 am

Whoopdidoo

I finally managed to pin and photo a Culicidae, probably a male Aedes punctor .

Here's a representative sample going from whole body down (some other images in my other thread about drying eyes).

Starting with an El-Nik 80/4, then 50/2.8 then 10x objective then back to the 50/2.8

Lighting with twin Nikon flashes through a yoghurt drink pot.

All stacked with ZS.

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:43 am

Remarkable pictures Andrew. How did you manage to pin it - is it glued to the pin in any way?

AndrewC · Post by **AndrewC** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:54 am

ChrisR wrote:Remarkable pictures Andrew. How did you manage to pin it - is it glued to the pin in any way?

Patience, patience, patience. Curse, curse, curse. Yesssssss ! If they are fresh and juicy it isn't too hard, as soon as they start drying out it gets much more difficult.

I didn't need it this time, but my backup strategy is to put a drop of PVA (or Isinglass if I ever get any) on the end of the pin first. The hardest bit I find is actually getting the pin in at the correct angle - on subjects as small as this you can't really hold them still with tweezers - or have too many goes.

Andrew

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 10:02 am

Excellent! Especially like the third shot.