Now this one should make it to the books Ken. I have never seen anything like this before. It looks like there are flaps on each subject, like the flaps on the undersides of crabs and the tan thing looks like it is coming out of the lower one. Excellent find Ken.

Always great detail in your photos Charles...right down to the smallest pollen grain. I have seen the second spider before but the first one looks strange and new.

WOW what a beautiful beetle. The pictures are over all very colorful. Even the lichen on the branch and the great green background lends a lot to the overall picture.

Hi Nikola, Very nice photos. I agree with Ken on the wings. Super detail.

A great shot Greg. It looks like you had to get right into the plant to get it. Very nice DOF in the photo also.
Doug

Thanks everyone for the great comments. Just to let you know, when I went back later in the day, the beetle was gone. Hopefully he made it out the back door :wink:. For the people in Australia, I do have three sundews native to your country (I do not overwinter these outside). They are winter grower...

"The plant is not supposed to eat me" Found this Life and Death struggle going on in my little mini Bog. Once they enter the Pitcher Plant, most never come out. The beetle may live to see another day. I do grow a few native and no-native winter hardy insectivorous plants including Sundews & Pitcher ...

Great photos and information. Honeybees do not need any more stress on their populations. This year in my garden, I am really seeing the decline in the bee numbers, actually both the wild and domesticated populations seem to be down in my area. Very scary.

Dang, that looks like a King Crab......It looks huge (and creepy) in your picture missgecko.

You can see how they get their name. These fungi were growing in my raised-bed garden (lots of compost and manure). First picture is a group shot. The second shows them more close-up. You can still see the remnants of the covering on the "seeds" in the cup. Third photo shows the early stages of grow...

WOW, that looks like it would feed the whole neighborhood

Sometimes they just want to relax and let you take their picture. Beautiful pictures microcollector

Excellent find and photo Missgecko. My neighbors often times stare at me like I am crazy as I run around the yard chasing unseen things in the yard and suddenly falling to the ground. We have a rather large orange and black wasp here in the Northeast USA (a thread-waisted wasp) which goes after rath...

Yep, put a smile on my face. "Look Ma, no hands"

Beautiful flies Mark (yes, flies can be beautiful). Photos are tack sharp and great DOF.