Plume moth (or a little owl?)
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Plume moth (or a little owl?)
I shot this plume moth the other night, I think it looks like an owl of some kind at this magnification!
Shot with Olympus 38mm/f2.8 bellows lens, 50 images stacked in Zerene stacker.
Shot with Olympus 38mm/f2.8 bellows lens, 50 images stacked in Zerene stacker.
Last edited by lauriek on Fri Nov 20, 2009 6:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Plume moth (or a little owl?)
Before I saw the image I thought you were stretching a point but it really does. Maybe you should have checked how much of 360 degrees its head could rotate.lauriek wrote:I shot this plume moth the other night, I think it looks like an owl of some kind at this magnification!
A very striking shot. A triumph for one of my favourite lenses.
Harold
My images are a medium for sharing some of my experiences: they are not me.
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I suspect an illusion. In the picture, it appears there is a hood or cowl around and behind the eyes, preventing them from seeing much except forward. However, the "front edge" of that cowl is actually a couple of ordinary threadlike antennae, here tucked down beside the head and inside the legs. When the moth is active, the antennae will be held up and forward, and the moth will have full view to the sides and somewhat back as usual.ChrisR wrote:It looks like it can only see forwards, is that unusual for a moth?
--Rik
Rik's absolutely right on the antennae, it's a bit of a trick that it looks like an owl, though not intentional on my part!
To be honest I've never seen a live plume moth with it's wings held as this specimen ended up, alive they always seem to have their wings perpendicular to the body but once frozen this specimen ended up in an odd posture with it's wings folded, and as mentioned the antennae dropped down to look like the 'cowl' around an owls eyes.
Thanks all!
What amazes me most about these moths is that they can actually fly at all with the amount of wing area they have, guess that shows the efficiency of nature.
Harold, that lens now has a special place in my collection, I think it's my current favourite. I suspect the 10x Nikon CF has slightly more resolution available but I find the magnification range of this lens extremely useful.
To be honest I've never seen a live plume moth with it's wings held as this specimen ended up, alive they always seem to have their wings perpendicular to the body but once frozen this specimen ended up in an odd posture with it's wings folded, and as mentioned the antennae dropped down to look like the 'cowl' around an owls eyes.
Thanks all!
What amazes me most about these moths is that they can actually fly at all with the amount of wing area they have, guess that shows the efficiency of nature.
Harold, that lens now has a special place in my collection, I think it's my current favourite. I suspect the 10x Nikon CF has slightly more resolution available but I find the magnification range of this lens extremely useful.
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The 10X Nikon CF has quite a bit more resolution than the Olympus 38 mm f/2.8 bellows lens. See HERE for direct comparison.
But as I noted in that thread, the Oly 38 is definitely my most used lens.
--Rik
But as I noted in that thread, the Oly 38 is definitely my most used lens.
--Rik