Four Eyed Beetle

[svalley]

Another Bark Beetle, Trypodendron rufitarsis (Kirby). There is nothing spectacular about this shot. I just thought it was interesting that the eyes have completely separated. Many of the Scolytids, as well as other beetle families, have an invagination on the eye, but most have not completely separated

Leica MZ16 stereomicroscope w/extended depth of field imaging system

[beetleman]

Any ideas on why the eyes are separated? He is very clean, Charles does a super job of cleaning is subjects up also. Very nice scientific shot.

[svalley]

Doug, I do not have a clue. It is close to where the base of the antennae are attached. It may be one of those changes in morphology that occur that through genetic drift, but that do not affect survival one way or the other.Th majority of their life is spent in the dark burrowing in wood. They are attracted to pheromones, so eyesight is probably not a major factor in their life.

[Ken Ramos]

Doug said:

Charles does a super job of cleaning is subjects up also.

Yeah, Charlie even gets behind their ears. That is a super shot there Steve, looks as though he is floating in air. Interesting bits of info you are providing us with too, I know nothing about bugs! To me a bug is a bug, unless its a SPIDER!

[svalley]

Ken, The other entomologists I work with have learned to keep spiders away from me. They give me the willies!

for the record, almost all the specimens I shoot are pinned or pointed, which I edit out using photoshop. I also always shoot against a neutral gray background. Most of my images are for publication, so if the press operator knows that the background is neutral, he can print the image without a colorcast. Another reason for a neutral bkg is that colored bkgs can change how our brain interprets the color of the specimen.

[Charles Krebs]

Ken...

Yeah, Charlie even gets behind their ears.

Probably comes from raising 5 kids! But don't forget most of my subjects have been flying critters that seen to spent a good part of their life grooming themselves, as opposed to beetles that are always rummaging around in messy stuff. You're a military guy... sort of like the difference between a jet fighter and a tank.

Steve... these are really great to see! Do most of your specimens come to you "fresh" or do you need to work with older dried specimens?

[svalley]

Charles, most specimens are pretty old. I do get some fresh ones fairly often from a multi-state, multi-agency program called Early Detection Rapid Response (EDRR). Those images are used for pest alerts and also may be sent to experts on that particular group of insects to confirm identification. All our entomologists are starting to be aware how much easier it is to clean specimens before they are mounted with the idea that they may be used as photo subjects in the future.

[crocoite]

Charles does a super job of cleaning is subjects up also. Very nice scientific shot.

Charles - did you ever post anything about cleaning specimens?